The Crafty Alchemist

The last of the pumpkins (really this time)

2012-02-14T11:06:00.001Z

Morning all & Happy Valentines Day to you.

Whilst all of blogland is sharing posts about love & all things heart related I thought I’d go the other way (in true Alchemist style lol) & share something spooky. I know I said last month that I had no more pumpkin projects to share, but I had one more which I’d forgotten about so after this post I can promise there will be no more pumpkin posts until I start growing them again in April.

Pumpkin carving is becoming one heck of a tradition in our house with DD picking the designs & me trying to carve them into the pumpkins, here’s 2011’s fiendish fellas.

The large felt frame is by fancy Pants & it’s been in my stash for 4 years so it feels really good to use it, I also used a set of Pink Paislee Halloween stamps that I have had for a couple of years & never used. It’s quite a simple layout but I wanted the focus to be the photo of the pumpkins.

The journaling reads: beware, beware on Halloween night, the ghosties & goblins may give you a fright! Boo!

It’s just a quick post from me today as DD & I have some serious playing with Lego to do this afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug, enjoy the love & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Valentines Day,Halloween,Pumpkins,scrapbooking

Everyday Stories – Tea & Cake

2012-02-09T14:40:00.001Z

Afternoon all & what a damp, cold & grey afternoon it is. I’m thankful that we still have had no snow, although DD isn’t about it lol. We do however have perilous freezing rain, the kind of rain that freezes the instant it hits your windscreen whilst driving – not fun. I hope none of you are snowed in & that you are all toasty warm & snug.

When I started the Everyday Stories series it was supposed to be all about the story behind the photo, however this photo has very little story behind it, just a random fact about something I very much enjoy, so I hope you don’t mind if I’ve wandered away from the original idea on this one :) The very small amount of journaling reads: I’m very partial towards a hot cup of tea & a cherry bakewell…

I know the little instant photo I used is a little out of focus, but I also couldn’t bear to waste it, so I went with it anyway :) The chipboard letters for the title were covered in patterned paper as they were the wrong colour for the layout. The brown patterned paper was the only 12x12 sheet I cut into for this layout, all of the others were left over bits from other projects. I’m finding it much easier to use up leftover stash working in A4 size than 12x12, & I need to reduce the amount of papers I have so this is a great way to do that. The stamps used are from The Octopode Factory - Alice & Teapot & a Small Cupcake.

I hope you enjoyed this instalment of Everyday Stories ;0D Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Everyday Stories,Tea & Cake Octopode Factory

Love Letters….

2012-02-07T18:01:00.001Z

…Straight from your heart. Yes it’s nearly Valentines Day when everyone seems to get all loved up & romantic (well except for me & Hubs, he doesn’t do romance & would probably need a diagram & instruction sheet to make any romantic gesture lol).

So to celebrate Valentines Day I’ve made a couple of Valentines cards from Sarah Hurleys new Love Letters Digi kit (which is available here in her Etsy shop)

This cute little cupid is coloured in with Promarkers & has white Stickles on his wings. He also comes as just a cupid & clouds not surrounded by a circle.

This is a very chunky little card (& we all know how much I love chunky), I’ve used some corrugated card to add some texture then I’ve attached the heart stamp with foam pads, I tied string around the corrugated card, then added some more foam pads & attached it to the card.

Well that’s all from me for today. Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley,Love Letters,Digi Kit,Valentines Day,cards

Sunday Afternoons

2012-02-05T08:52:00.001Z

Morning all, we have no snow, what we do have is very thick icy fog that looks like it could be freezing fog, I’m not sure as I haven’t ventured outside yet this morning. What I am sure of is that today will be a bit chilly. DD & I have plans for days like this, plans that involve staying inside & drinking warm drinks. I’m also pretty sure that today will involve a Harry Potter dvd & some Lego…

Both DD & I are Harry Potter fans & she loves Lego so we have started collecting the Harry Potter Lego sets, We set them up in the lounge on the coffee table & DD will play for hours.

The journaling reads: Your Harry Potter Lego sets are your favourite toys, I love watching you play with it when you have it all set out on the coffee table in the lounge (whilst watching Harry Potter dvds) I’ve got to admit I love the Lego too & it was one of my favourites as a child. We’ve spent many a rainy Sunday afternoon in the Burrow or shopping in Diagon Alley or defending Hogwarts & I’m sure we’ll spend many more Sunday afternoons playing with the Lego together.

Well that’s all from me for today, I’ve got to crack on with a little bit of housework then will be spending a fair amount of time working on this, that & the other at the craft desk (in the lounge whilst DD is playing with the Lego).

Don’t forget to check out the latest challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog & the lessons on the Craft Academy & Crafty Kids Academy.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,Lego,Harry Potter,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Craft Academy,Crafty Kids Academy

Love is all around challenge…

2012-02-02T16:51:00.001Z

Hello there, it’s Thursday & also the last day of the week for me this week workwise, so I’m grinning like a Cheshire cat right now.

There’s a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog today, which was set by Emma & as it’s February the challenge is very aptly themed….

Love is all around.

Here’s what I made….

I used the Love ticket from Sarah’s Wonderland CD, the Pink Paper from Sarah’s Oz CD & the brown & cream hearts paper from Sarah’s Woodland Whimsies CD.

There’s loads of ideas & inspiration over from all of the DT over on the challenge blog & you have until midnight, Sunday 12th February to enter, all you need to do is create something along a love theme & link your creation to this post here.

Sarah has also released some new Valentines themed digis called Love Letters over in the Etsy shop, they are fab & I’m looking forward to playing with them this evening.

Well that’s all from me for today, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Sarah Hurley DT,Love is all around,challenge,Valentines,Wonderland,Oz,Woodland Whimsies CD,Card making

Month In Numbers – January 2012

2012-01-31T18:55:00.001Z

Oh yes, it’s back! I enjoyed Month in Numbers so much last year that I had to keep playing along this year. For those of you who have never heard of Month In Numbers here is a brief explanation:

Month in Numbers was started in 2010 by Julie Kirk of Notes on Paper, I loved reading her Month in Number posts & wanted to join in, so I started playing along in January 2011 (all my previous posts are on the Month In Numbers page at the top of this page). Last year I did 12x12 layouts with no photos, this year I wanted something different to that, after a small panic (I’d collected numbers but had no idea what format to use for the project) my friend Jo appeared at my door with a bag of mount board off cuts, I immediately noticed that a lot of them were the same size, perfect for a mini album, so here is this years Month In Numbers album….

It’s really chunky – which I love!!! It’s 11 inches x 3 inches. I’m making an explanation page (every project needs an explanation page) but I haven’t finished it yet. So it’s time for my page for this month…

I’ve photographed the pages like this as they were too long side by side. I’m also making an effort to stamp more on my pages, so I used lots of stamps on this page, the journaling spots & words are all Banana Frog, the calendar is ScrapaGoGo & January is from 7Gypsies.

My numbers are:

27 lists written

15 cakes eaten – I will be keeping a cake count again this year

2 hours spent in darkness due to a power cut, this number is current rising as 40minutes ago there was an almighty bang & we’re sat in candlelight again – twice in 2 weeks.

10 The age Asha, my labrador turned this month.

12pm the time I seem to be going to bed each night.

9 hours spent reorganising & tidying the craft space

54 the cost of my shiny new boots - which I am not allowed until my birthday :(

3 Roald Dahl books read to Hermione.

Well that’s all from me for tonight, typing in candlelight is not easy.

Please stop by Julie’s blog & check out her Month in Numbers post here.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Month in Numbers,Julie Kirk,Notes On Paper,Mini book

Everyday Stories – I’m a big kid

2012-01-29T09:50:00.001Z

Morning all & a lovely Sunday to you. I hope you’ve all had a nice weekend so far, I spent yesterday at the local crop & got loads done & I feel the urge to get loads of crafting done today as well so it looks as though it’s going to be a productive weekend.

I have another layout from my Everyday Stories series to share with you today. I’ve only recently cut into my November/December Quirky Kit as the papers were so lush that I didn’t just want to rush in & start chopping at such pretty paper. I also used the Simple Recipes Challenge set by Quirky Kits on UKScrappers – which was to use pinks & browns.

I’m using Kraft cardstock all through this album to keep some continuity for the project. I also used a Polaroid on this (I only have a few left now) All of the papers & the large bright pink ribbon are from my Quirky Kit & the embellishments, alphas & other ribbons are from my own stash.

The photo was taken on Christmas Eve this year, I did have heels on but after 10 minutes I gave up & put my sheepskin boots back on (I’m a comfy person). The journaling reads: I’m like a big kid when it comes to Christmas. Christmas is magical to me, I love the whole thing, the atmosphere, the dinner, family & friends. I’m 31 & still get excited at Christmas.

I’m still loving the A4 thing, I know I keep going on about it but I can’t believe that I’ve been crafting for nearly 6 years & have just tried it!

Well that’s all from me for today, Don’t forget to check out the new lessons over on Craft Academy & Crafty Kids Academy & you still have time to enter the challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog, it ends at midnight tonight.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care,stay snug.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Everyday Stories,Scrapbooking,Quirky Kits,UKScrappers,Simple Recipes,Polaroid Camera,Pink,Brown,Craft academy,Crafty Kids Academy,Sarah Hurley Challenge blog

Re-introducing… The Addicted Series

2012-01-26T13:38:00.001Z

Hi there & happy Thursday to you all, only one more sleep until Friday – which makes me very happy indeed.

A few of you may remember that last year I started a scrapbooking series called The Addicted Series featuring my love of things I can’t live without like vampire books, notebooks & vintage clothing, but then other projects came in, life happened, I forgot to take photos & The Addicted Series kind of got left behind & forgotten, but I’m bringing it back for 2012. It’s going to be another as & when series as I find I tend to do stick to projects better when I’m not forcing myself to do them. I also intend to go back through the blog, find the posts & put them all together on a page at the top of the blog with Month In Numbers & Everyday Stories to make it easier for you guys to find them.

I’m taking a new approach (to me anyway) for scrapbooking this year, I usually start with a Quirky Kit from Crafty Templates as this is where I get my new stash from & then mix in some older papers & embellishments as I go along – I will bust my stash this year!

So the first layout for The Addicted Series this year details one of my newest hobbies… Crochet, love it, ripple blankets are my favourite, but that’s a whole different Addicted Series layout ***makes mental note to collate photos of my ripple blankets***

The blue doily paper, yellow spotty paper & blue stripy paper (under the photo) were from my September/October Quirky Kit, the other papers & embellishments are all older bits of stash, the black blob in the top corner is a speech bubble stamp from Bam Pop (unused, 5 years old) which says “you know how I roll” and it looks much better in real life, I promise.

The journaling reads: My mum taught me to crochet about 18 months ago & I love it, I find it even more relaxing than knitting. Crocheting ripple blankets is my favourite thing to do, but I love inventing patterns for mitts. I haven’t learned how to crochet clothes yet but it’s on my list.

Note: I realised after writing this onto the sticker & sticking it to the layout that it was in fact last summer that mum taught me to crochet so it’s 8 months not 18, whoops, oh well, we’ll just keep between us lol.

If anyone does fancy joining in with this series just leave me a comment letting me know where your blog is & I’ll pop along & say hi, I’d love to see what you make.

Well that’s all from me for today, thanks for stopping by & leaving lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Quirky Kits,Crafty Templates,Scrapbooking,The Addicted Series,Crochet,Stamping

The Last of the Pumpkins

2012-01-24T16:32:00.001Z

Ok apologies for still going on about pumpkins in January but I have one more pumpkin layout to share (actually 2, I’ve just remembered about another one). Then it’ll soon be time for me to get the vegetable patch ready for the next growing season & I’ll start going on about pumpkins again.

This was one of the photos my Mum took whilst we were harvesting the pumpkins this year & although I didn’t get my biggest pumpkin yet – 36lbs is my record – I did manage to grow more than ever before.

I’d been saving the doily style paper for a special project, but I’d forgotten what it was so I used it on this instead. I used a template from a die cut piece of paper to create the scalloped circle from cardstock & the lid from a large tin of roses for the inner piece of circular patterned paper (very technical lol), a few brads & some hand stitching later & the layout just needed journaling, which reads: Every year we plant our pumpkin seeds, spend months watering them, feeding them & watching them grow just so that we can carve them for Halloween. We get so excited at pumpkin picking time as we want to see if we’ve grown our biggest pumpkin ever!

Don’t forget to pop by the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog & check out the latest challenge – there are prizes & you have until Sunday 29th January to enter.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Pumpkins,Hand Stitching,Circular layouts,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog

All About Me Challenge

2012-01-22T09:07:00.001Z

Good morning everyone, how are you today? I’m a little tired as we went out for a meal with friends last night, but I’m sure I’ll wake up a bit more after a couple more cups of tea.

There was a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog this week, it was Nat’s turn to set the challenge this time & the theme is:

All About Me & Lists

Here’s what I came up with for the challenge:

I used papers from Sarah’s Oz, Tinseltown & Vintage Halloween ranges. I made a faux envelope to hold 2 journaling cards which contain lists of my favourite things & things that make me happy.

I also added some felt ribbon & a chunky chipboard frame as well as a little bit of bling.

You can see what the rest of the DT girls made here, you have until Sunday 29th January to enter, just link your creation to this post here.

Also don’t forget to check out the new lessons over on Craft Academy & Crafty Kids Academy this week.

Yesterday I was a lucky girl, I received a lovely parcel in the post from Julie Kirk at Notes On Paper, which made me squeal with delight, she wanted to cheer me up after a not so good week at work, look at what she sent me…

A packet of Plundered Pages & lots of little bits all themed to me, it’s wonderful. Julie has been selling Plundered Pages packs since the end of last year in her Etsy shop & this year she will be offering to create custom made Plundered Pages packs, this one is just so me it’s untrue, there’s knitting, sewing, games, a few numbers in there & some superhero pages, she’s even managed to get in papers about Pyjamas!, I’m going to have so much fun with this. You can check out Julies’ Etsy shop here – it’s well worth a look.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’m going to do my Sunday morning chores then have a crafting session whilst helping DD with her homework.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Sarah Hurley DT,Julie Kirk,Notes on Paper,Plundered pages,Julie Kirk & The Carousel Zebra,Craft Academy,Crafty Kids Academy

Everyday Stories – Family Photo

2012-01-19T17:57:00.001Z

Evening all, I have no idea where this week has gone, it’s just whizzed past in a blur. I don’t seem to have done much though, my to do list is long, but I’m off work tomorrow so plan to catch up then. I’ve done all the housework though so tomorrow is pure craftiness, with a smidge of charity shop rummaging in the morning. I also spent part of the afternoon baking a chocolate cake, not just any chocolate cake but the one from Roald Dahl’s Matilda (the one that The Trunchbull makes Bruce Bogtrotter eat whole after he’s caught pinching a slice of cake from the school kitchen – the recipe is in Roald Dahl’s Completely Revolting Recipes) ,it’s not 18 inches across like the one in the film & book but, oh my, it looks good. It’s for my dad’s birthday tomorrow & DD is sulking because I won’t let her have a slice now ***oh dear!***

I have been doing a little bit of crafting & I have another layout from my Everyday Stories album to share with you today. I said it last time but I have to say it again, this A4 size of scrapbooking is really working for me.

I used a Polaroid photo this time instead of my Fuji Instax camera. I happened to find an unopened pack of Polaroid film that was in a camera bag that belonged to my late Grampa, The film was 2 years out of date but I figured I might as well try it out & it’s fine, the colours are a little faded, but for me that kind of adds a touch of nostalgia to the project. The photo is attached to a pocket envelope which contains the journaling about this photo, which reads:

Every year at Christmas I ask Mum to take a photo of the 3 of us together, we don’t have many photos of us as a family as one of us is usually behind the camera taking the photo. This year I had found an unopened 10 exposure packet of film for a Polaroid in an old camera bag so I thought we’d have a Polaroid photo for a change, so after Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve we sat in our usual position – on the small sofa next to the Christmas tree & smiled, the Asha (the dog) wandered over, but he didn’t want to sit & pose for the camera, at which point mum pressed the shutter button & the flash from the camera was so bright that Hermione had to shut her eyes! At least we were all looking in the right direction, maybe one year I’ll manage to get that perfect Christmas family photo.

I doodled a black & white border around the page, used some 7Gypsies stickers & a 7Gypsies stamp, the papers are from 4Heures37 & came in my Quirky Kit from early last year (they are a couple of leftover pieces, but I really love them) The Glittery houndstooth cardstock was also from a Quirky Kit (it may be American Crafts, I can’t remember).

There is a new lesson over Craft Academy today from Jaine which is an Introduction to Watercolour pens. It’s very informative & well worth a look. There will be a new lesson up on Crafty Kids Academy tomorrow, in time for the weekend.

Well that’s all from me for today, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s very much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Everyday Stories,Scrapbooking,7gypsies,Polaroid Camera,Doodling,Hidden Journling,4heures37,Quirky Kits,Sarah hurley,Craft Academy,Crafty Kids Academy,Watercolour pens

A Wedding Page & Origami Frogs

2012-01-15T09:20:00.001Z

Good morning & how are you today? My plans have been interrupted slightly by Hubby’s game of golf this morning (when I say plans I mean sleep) as DD came into our room & got me up at 7.30am, just after her dad left for the golf course – she wanted to make more origami frogs, but more about that later.

Yesterday I tidied the craft area/studio & am trying to sneakily create a sewing room/office in the old craft room upstairs (without hubs noticing lol) It took 8 hours to re-organise the craft space & I haven’t even started on the craft room. But it looks better & the organisation of it works better too now.

I still have quite a pile of scrapbook layouts to share with you all & today I thought I’d share one that I’ve made with a photo from our wedding day over 8 years ago (I’ve hardly scrapped any wedding photos so I’m making an effort).

We got married very late in November in 2003 & the colour scheme was lilac & purple, so I decided to use only those colours on the layout (with some black & white as well)

I used one of my favourite techniques on this layout to create a shaped layout. I made a template from some die cut paper I owned & drew around it onto the cardstock to make the shape, then cut it out, I then drew a smaller version of the same shape for the inside of the layout. I mounted the photo onto acetate & layered scraps of paper & some lovely ribbon onto the page. I’ve hand stitched a border around the white cardstock & doodled stitching around the lilac, added a little bling & a big felt Cupid. The flower in the top corner was made by taking a length of lace, stitching running stitch along one edge then pulling the thread tight to make the lace ruffle up, then I just used a couple of stitches to hold it in the flower shape & stitched a button onto the middle.

The journaling reads: After 2 years of planning, making table decorations, invitations & dresses, not to mention blowing 1000 balloons up the day before, our wedding day was perfect.

Now onto something new… earlier this week Sarah Hurley launched her new sites Craft Academy & Crafty Kids Academy, which will have new lessons posted weekly to give you ideas & inspiration. The great thing is lots of us crafters have small people who love to craft with us too & Crafty Kids Academy is for them & older kids too. I’m lucky enough to be on Sarah’s DT & I can tell you that we have some fab lessons planned for these 2 sites so pop over & have a look :D

The first lesson on Craft Academy this week is Paper Piecing & you can find the lesson here – it’s a great way to use up those scraps of patterned paper that you can’t bear to part with.

The first lesson on Crafty Kids Academy is Origami Frogs, so yesterday DD & I went onto Crafty Kids Academy, downloaded the PDF (which also has a square of patterned paper that you can out & use if you wish) & made a couple of frogs. I’ve never tried Origami before & I was surprised at how easy it was, DD had no trouble with instructions either, she is 5 & can read but she found it easier to follow the step by step pictures, a few folds & some googly eyes (optional) later we had…

two little cute hopping frogs, they jump quite far too, we were seeing whose could jump the furthest (mine has the big eyes & DD’s has the little eyes). These would look fab in all colours of paper & it would be great fun to have hopping frog races indoors on wet, rainy days.

That’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay, snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrabooking,Wedding,Hand Stitching,Shaped layouts,Lace flower,Sarah Hurley,Craft,Crafty Kids Academy,Paper Piecing,Hopping Origami Frogs

A layout from Christmas Past

2012-01-12T14:03:00.001Z

A very happy, sunny Thursday afternoon to you, the sun is shining, it’s nearly Friday & I have a gazillion crafty plans that are being put into action over the weekend, so I have something to look forward to.

Now it may be a bit early/late for Christmas layouts but I do have a few more knocking about my craft desk to share and this is the first. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I don’t have any photos of my teenage years as most of them were destroyed in a fire & in my 20’s I was usually behind the camera or avoiding it, however, Mum was having a sort out & came across a huge bag of photos which contained a few of me, this particular one was from a Christmas Eve somewhere between the years 1999 & 2003, I have a feeling I was just about to go & meet my friends at the pub when this one was taken. As there aren’t that many photos of me during that period I felt obliged (but in a good way) to scrap it, so I did…

I wanted a vintagey feel to the layout, so used lots of Kraft tones, book pages & Distress Ink, also a bit of lace ribbon & some hand stitching around the patterned paper. The Christmas trees were cut from chipboard using my Sizzix then I cut more of the tree shapes from book pages & glued those onto the chipboard. The journaling reads:

Christmas Eve, after Christmas dinner my friends & I used to meet at the pub & then go up town clubbing, these days I’d much rather stay in & have a hot chocolate.

Don’t forget there is still time to enter the Giving Thanks Challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog, just link your creation to this post here. You have until Sunday 15th January to play along.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Christmas,Old photos,Kraft,Vintage,Hand stitching,Sizzix,Distress Ink. Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Giving Thanks

Everyday Stories – The Pyjama People

2012-01-10T18:31:00.001Z

Evening all, how are you?

There’s something about New Year that makes myself & plenty of other scrapbookers/crafty types out there want to start new projects to carry on throughout the year. I’ve started a few in the past myself (the key word here is started) most have gone unfinished like Word of the Week, I managed 6 weeks & lost the love for it, or This Year I Will, I did stick to my resolutions last year but then forgot to document them– the album is currently awaiting my attention and the Addicted Series which if I’m honest I loved but just forgot to keep taking photos for it (however I’m bringing the Addicted Series back very soon).

As usual this year I got that shiny new year, shiny new project itch & I didn’t want to have another unfinished thing hanging about my desk making me feel guilty every time I look at it, all sad & unfinished in the corner, so I needed to think about what project I wanted to do & how I could make it manageable throughout 2012. My first decision was to work in 8.5 x 11.5 inch size (other wise known as A4) as someone I know had once mentioned they found those pages easier & quicker to complete.

The next thing I had to decide was what I wanted to do. Before Christmas there were a few blog posts from various bloggers (I can’t remember who unfortunately) who were looking at their scrapbooking process & why they scrapbook. I realised that most of my layouts are of the “you & me” type or “smile” – basically just a picture with a caption for a title (there’s nothing wrong with this type of layout but I have 28 albums full of them), what about the story behind the photo? Why do I never tell this? Surely this bit is important? So the light bulb clicked on & Everyday Stories was born. (I realise that the point of scrapbooking is to tell the story, but I never seem to do it so this should help me focus a bit when I’m adding journaling to my layouts)

But to add another twist I decided to use mainly instant photos to really capture the “right now” of the tale. I found a new pack of film for my old Polaroid camera so I had 10 shots there but that’s not enough & the film can be tricky & expensive to get hold of, so I asked hubs for a Fuji Instax Camera for Christmas which is basically the same as a Polaroid but with smaller pictures (credit card size), the film isn’t too badly priced (if you buy in bulk) & is very easy to get hold of online. Santa delivered & I love it :D

So here is my first (of many) Everyday Stories layout:

The journaling reads: Pyjama days are the best! There’s not much that can beat relaxing on the sofa wearing our pj’s all day. We might watch DVDs, make something or build something with Lego but my favourite thing of all on pyjama days is spending time together. Pyjama days are one of the things we look forward too, Pyjama Days are ours!

Whoever said A4 layouts are easier than 12x12 was right, I love them, I find they come together a lot quicker & I seem to use up loads of paper scraps (more than I ever use on 12x12 layouts, so it’s great for busting stash) I’m really enjoying working & in this size it’s very manageable as a 12 month project. Everyday Stories is something I’m going to dip into regularly throughout the year, so I won’t be doing a post once a week on a Friday or anything like that, it’s more of an “as & when” type series (I’m more likely to stick with it this way) but you’ll be seeing more of them throughout 2012.

Well, that’s all from for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments it’s much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Everyday Stories,Scrapbooking,Pyjamas,stash busting,12 month project,Fuji Instax Camera,Polaroid Camera,Instant photos

Seasonal fun – More pumpkins

2012-01-08T12:41:00.001Z

Hey there, nice to see you.

It’s raining again here today, but it’s not cold so that’s a good thing. It does add to the bleakness of January though (to me January is like Mondays – Mondays are the worst day of the week, January is the worst month of the year) so I try & scrap cheerful happy things to take my mind off of the gloom.

With that in mind, I’m scrapping a few Autumn photos that have been sat on my craft desk for a while now. Over the course of the gardening year I put the most of my energy into the pumpkin patch on the vegetable plot we have at Mum & Dads house, the pumpkins are my thing, so when pumpkin picking time comes around Mum is there with my camera taking all of the photos for me.

I’ve ripped the edges of the patterned paper & inked them, & on the top edge of the checked paper I’ve ripped it & sewn it up a bit with Bakers Twine. The butterflies are rub-ons. The journaling reads: Pumpkin picking is my favourite event of the gardening season. Every year I can’t wait to see if the pumpkins weigh more than last years crop. Hermione gets just as excited as I do about it.

Note: If you’re wondering what my DD was doing in this picture I’ll explain, my Mum had knitted DD a pumpkin hat (they have a seasonal hat thing going on) & DD thought she was perfectly disguised as a pumpkin & that no-one could see her hiding behind the pumpkins. I’m not sure what’s more worrying, the fact she thinks she’s invisible or that she want to be a pumpkin lol.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & keep smiling.

C xx

Technorati Tags: January,Autumn,Pumpkins,Scrapbooking,Bakers Twine,Rub-ons.

Giving Thanks Challenge

2012-01-05T19:37:00.001Z

Evening all, how’s it going? There’s a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog today & Sarah has also revealed the exciting news about a new project that we have been trying to keep quiet about.

First up let’s do the challenge, this week it’s sponsored by the lovely Sarah herself & the theme is:

GIVING THANKS

So here is my creation for this challenge:

I Sarah’s Oz, Tinseltown & Woodland Whimsies collections on the card (Sarah’s CD’s all mix & match together really well making them extra versatile) I added a large brown bloom, a medium cream felt bloom & 4 teeny blooms with some bling.

You can check out all of our DT creations here, there’s some fab inspiration there.

To enter all you need to do is create something along a giving thanks theme & post a link to your creation to the linky thing on this post here (linky thing being the technical term lol) You have until midnight Sunday 15th January to enter, hope to see you over there & good luck.

Now the exciting news….

Sarah has launched a brand new crafty venture

The Craft Academy

and

The Crafty Kids Academy

These are two new sites which will be offering weekly inspirational projects & tutorials for all types of craftiness including scrapbooking, altered art, journaling & cardmaking. Crafty Kids Academy has the same concept as The Craft Academy & has projects for tiny peeps, tweens & teens.

The first lessons will be posted next week & we really hope to see you there, Sarah & all of the team have been bursting to share this with you (I’ve been so excited I’ve struggled to sleep :D), but check out Sarah’s full write up on the new sites here – she tells it so much better than I do lol.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, its always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Giving Thanks,Card making,Tinseltown CD,Oz CD,Woodland Whimsies CD,Craft Academy,Crafty Kids Academy

Month in Numbers December 2011

2012-01-02T13:51:00.001Z

Hey there, Happy 2012 to you all, I know I’m a little bit late with my December Month In Numbers, but I thought I’d have a couple of weeks off from blogging over Christmas, it’s been a bit hectic, so I wanted a bit of time to chill out & plan ideas for new projects, some of which I’ll be sharing soon.

So, Month in Numbers, well if you’ve never heard of it before I’ll explain, it was started by Julie Kirk from Notes on Paper back in January 2010, I enjoyed reading Julie’s Month In Numbers so much that in January 2011 I decided to join in & record my numbers on scrapbook pages. I’ll be recording Month in Numbers throughout 2012, but haven’t decided on the final format I want to use just yet.

So without further ado I give you my December numbers…

6: Hours spent wrapping 38 Christmas presents.

8 years: The age of my washing machine when it broke beyond repair this month.

10: I found a brand new 10 exposure Polaroid film in an old camera bag belonging to my late Grampa.

5: Packs of Marzipan eaten, I can’t help it I need help!! (I had to keep buying replacement marzipan for the Christmas cakes, I have a habit of eating big slices of the stuff, a bit like cheese)

8: The number of Cath Kidston china cups that I ordered online, 7 was the number I ended up with after 1 was broken in transit. (That story will be getting a scrapbook page all of it’s very own)

26: Cakes eaten – well it is Christmas.

7: Hours spent decorating the Christmas Tree, It doesn’t normally take so long but I needed to put thread on all 144 baubles to be able to hang them.

1: Crochet ripple blanket started – this one is for me.

31: Boxes of chocolates & sweeties on our kitchen worktop, they were all Christmas presents.

Well that was my Month in Numbers for December 2011, I’m already making notes for 2012. Be sure to pop by Julie’s blog & check out her numbers too.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug (during this strangely mild winter) & hope to see you soon.
C xx

Technorati Tags: Month In Numbers,Julie Kirk,Notes on Paper,Scrapbooking.

Woah! Where did last week go? {& a challenge}

2011-12-18T15:19:00.001Z

Seriously, did I blink & miss it? I’m starting to feel the Christmas pressure a little more now, I’ve just finished icing the cakes, I still have a few more presents to buy, all of them to wrap & a little more last minute baking to do, I’m also working most of next week, but I’m pretty sure I can fit it all in… just!

I’ve also got a huge to do list of craft projects that I cannot wait to start & after spending all day yesterday at a local crop & completing 3 layouts, I’m feeling the urge to get crafty, (which is my next task for the day once I’ve finished this post & done the blog rounds as it were).

There was a new challenge on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog on Thursday (I really didn’t mean to get this far behind with blogging – honestly I didn’t). The challenge is:

COLOURING

and is sponsored by Limited Runs Digis, they have some really lovely digis & there are prizes up for grabs too.

I wanted to make a wall hanging for DD’s door for Christmas using Sarah’s houses on the Tinseltown CD & when I found the Santa’s Stuck image at Limited Runs Digis I knew he was the one for me.

I coloured in the 2 house images & the Santa’s Stuck image using Promarkers, I then glued them to chipboard & cut them out to make them a bit more sturdy & printed Sarah’s Santa Please Stop Here sign, (also from Tinseltown) attached it to some chipboard & cut it out.

I glued the Santa’s Stuck images to the top of the Tinseltown houses & added some stickles to the snowy bits to make them glittery & shimmery.

Then I attached the two houses & the sign to some red & white bakers twine, all ready to hang up & attract Santa’s attention on Christmas Eve.

This challenge is open until midnight on 1st January 2012, all you have to do is get colouring on your creations & link your creation to this post here. You can see all of the DT’s fabulous creations here. Hope to see you over there & good luck.

I’m hoping to get a couple of blog posts in next week, but just in case I don’t get round to it I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, stay snug, if I don’t see you before, I hope to see you in 2012.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Tinseltown CD,Limited Runs Digis,colouring,Stickles,Promarkers,Christmas.

The Christmas Tree & a Little Bit of Love

2011-12-09T09:23:00.001Z

Morning all, there’s some serious weather on the Fylde Coast today, wind, rain, hailstone & a bit of sunshine, not to mention bitterly cold, the weather can’t seem to make up it’s mind at the moment, so it’s throwing a bit of everything at us.

Some of my Twitter followers may remember me having a bit of a stress on Twitter as I’ve changed my colour scheme for Christmas this year (because my lounge is now blue & white instead of cream & gold & red & gold decorations look out of place amongst the blueness) So I was trying to to find some baubles in just the right shade of blue, but I couldn’t, then I located a Christmas warehouse about 30 seconds down the road from my office & bingo!!! I found exactly what I was looking for at rock bottom prices (double bonus) so last weekend I spent 7 hours putting up & decorating my tree, it doesn’t normally take me so long, but all 144 new baubles needed threading so they could be dangled from the branches (I’m not a fan of the paperclip hooky things) by 9pm last Saturday night it looked like this

I love it, love it, LOVE IT!!! The dangling crystals were rescued from an old chandelier that my dad was going to bin, mum & I looked horror struck, we grabbed it from him & set about removing the dangly glass crystals & cleaning them up, so there’s a little bit of vintage & recycling in there too.

However, can you see what is missing? Up there right at the top – No fairy :( I haven’t been able to find one, so I’m going to try making one later today, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Now I meant to share this layout with you back in November around the time of our Wedding Anniversary but I just didn’t get round to it,

It’s just a nice, clean & simple layout made with a 6x4 photo & a few leftover scraps of patterned paper. The words are from a Felt set by Fancy Pants that I’ve had for years, I used a bit of bling & some hand stitching around the edge, it says everything I wanted it too.

That’s all from me today, I’ve got a fairy to make, mitts to crochet, scrapbook layouts to do & tea to drink & if I get all of that done it’ll be a miracle lol.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Christmas tree,baubles,Christmas fairy,scrapbooking,layout,wedding anniversary,love,hand stitching

A Christmas Challenge {sponsored by Letraset}

2011-12-06T19:52:00.001Z

Hey there! How are you? I’ve been playing around with the blog a bit, I’ve been wanting to change it for a while but was a bit nervous about creating (& installing) my own header, in the end I thought that I needed to just get on with it. I’m rather pleased with how it’s turned out. What do you think? I’ve finally added a Month In Numbers page (just up there, above this post) to make it easier to find all of my Month in Numbers posts in one place. I’ve got a few more pages to add when I’ve organised a few ongoing projects (so bear with me on the pages).

I mentioned a challenge didn’t I? I also mentioned Letraset, well Letraset are sponsoring the latest challenge on the Sarah Hurley challenge blog & you can win a lovely set of Spring Promarkers, all you have to do is create something using the theme

CHRISTMAS

Here is my little creation

The tag is cut from some left over corrugated card (I’m already recycling my Christmas packaging) The tree, background paper & sentiment are all from Sarah’s Tinseltown CD. I used a Martha Stewart doily punch to edge the patterned paper. The tree is coloured with Promarkers, I’ve added blue Stickles to the blue baubles & Glossy Accents to the other baubles & star so that they shine like real baubles.

All you need to do to enter, is create something with the Christmas theme & link your creation to this post here. You can see all of the DT creations here. You have until Sunday 11th December to enter. Hope to see you over there.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Sarah Hurley DT,Christmas Challenge,Letraset,Promarkers,glossy accents,Stickles,Tinseltown CD

Month In Numbers – November

2011-12-01T14:29:00.001Z

Pinch punch first of the month & all that malarky, It’s December & as the delivery driver at work pointed out to me this morning 24 sleeps until Christmas (this was met with a fierce scowl from myself). I’m not quite prepared for Christmas but seem to be more prepared than I normally am at this point in the year, maybe I’m finally getting the hang of this “planning for Christmas” thing. Anyhow, enough about festive frivolities for now (I’m sure there will be plenty this month) & onto Month In Numbers, if you haven’t heard of Month In Numbers before here is a brief explanation in 2010 Julie Kirk of Notes On Paper began to note significant numbers in her life & post them on her blog once a month for us all to see, since then several more of us have joined the League of Month In Numbers & do the same, all blogged, but recording them in different ways, I like to do mine as scrapbook pages with no photos.

So what are my numbers for November?

November is a bit of a special month for me & my numbers explain that, so here we go:

8: The number of years we have been married this month, 8 years ago on 29th November (my second number for this month) Hubs & I got married, it was blowing a gale & filled with torrential rain, but we had a blast (& we still do to this day!) My dress was lilac (see the post below this) & the colour scheme was purple & there were 125 guests (a fact I have just remembered whilst typing this.) 8 years on we still love each other & are best mates.

144: The number of shiny new baubles I have bought to decorate my Christmas tree. Earlier in the year I redecorated my lounge from cream & gold to blue & white, around mid November I let out a horrified “Noooooooooooo” when I realised all that my red & gold Christmas decorations wouldn’t go with the lounge anymore, so I *had* to buy new all new baubles & tinsel for my tree in shades of blue & vanilla. My tree is HUGE at 7ft tall & 5ft wide (I don’t things by halves) so I needed a lot of baubles.

99p: The price of a bar of chocolate covered marzipan, happiness for under £1. I had a nasty migraine one day so mum kindly took DD out so I could sleep it off, they had a fab day out at Scorton & whilst they were in the shops DD spotted some chocolate marzipan & said to my mum “Nana, please can I buy this for mummy, it’s her favourite & it will make her feel better? I brought my own pocket money too.” So of course mum said yes (& gave her a bit more pocket money later to reimburse her lol). It was such a lovely thought & I was really moved by it too.

27: Cakes eaten! There was an accident involving 12 mini muffins for the school Christmas fair, they accidentally got eaten, DD ate 1 & I ate the other 11. So I sent her into school this morning with 12 mince pies instead (I don’t like mince pies so there was no danger of any more *accidents*)

2: Kids birthday parties attended this month – that’s a lot of screaming, shouting & general noise. But the kids all enjoy it :)

36: Inches knitted on Mum’s Christmas shrug. Will it be ready in time for Christmas?? I really hope so. I have 21 more inches to go then a bit of sewing up & then knitting a 6inch wide collar all around the opening of the shrug. I may need to borrow Santa’s elves to get this finished.

So those are my numbers for November, remember you can see Julies’ Month in Numbers here (please do, she’d love it if you popped by) & her previous Month in Numbers posts can be found here.

That’s all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Month in Numbers,Julie Kirk,Notes on paper,November,Scrapbooking.

Happy Anniversary…

2011-11-29T16:35:00.001Z

….to us, my lovely husband & I got married 8 years ago today, on a cold blustery November’s day (much like today).

Here’s the anniversary card I made for him using Stampotique Stamps,

I’d better go & put something nice on for tea (unless I can get him to treat me to an anniversary takeaway tea.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Wedding Anniversary,card making,Stampotique

Sunday Scrapbooking & Cake Logic.

2011-11-27T13:48:00.001Z

Hi there, how are you, the sun is shining by the seaside today but the wind is gale force & only set to get worse, oh joy!

I’ve been getting my scrap on (as it were) my scrapbooking mojo hasn’t been fully functioning of late & I’ve felt that all of my recent pages have lacked a little something, I’m not sure what but I have the niggling feeling that they could have been better, however this problem now seems to have resolved itself & I’ve been busy reacquainting myself with my scrapbooking stash. This layout was made from one piece of cardstock (obviously lol) & the rest was scraps of patterned paper, plus a few embellishments that fit the general theme of the page. I enjoy scrapping the every day, non important stuff, as it quite often has a story worthy of telling.

This layout tells the story of my favourite perfume, Giorgio Beverly Hills, the small amount of journaling tells the story:

This is my favourite perfume, it’s the only perfume I wear & I’ve worn it every day since I was 15 years old & I have no intention to change that.

One of my friends once commented that she knew if I’d arrived at an event before her as she could always smell my perfume. So it’s become know as my signature smell (if you’ll pardon the expression)

Just before I go today I’d like to share a little something I overheard this week whilst queuing in the canteen at work. There was a petite girl in front of me who asked for “a very large slice of that apple crumble & please can you cover it in custard?”

The lady behind the counter replied “but told me not to serve you puddings as you want to get into your wedding dress”

“Yes, but the crumble is covered in custard”

The lady behind the counter looked confused by this until the girl then added “If I can’t see it, it doesn’t count!”

So girl in front of me in the canteen que, I salute you for your excellent logic! Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to get a big chocolate cake & a blindfold. :D

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,perfume,everyday stories,apple crumble,cake logic

Second Ripple Blanket – Done!

2011-11-24T13:32:00.001Z

Hey there, how’s it going? I’m starting to have a little panic, just a small one, I keep seeing all of these counters on blogs & Twitter of how many sleeps until Christmas, time seems to be flying past me again, however Mother-in-Law (aka The Outlaws) will have a Christmas present this year as last night I finished the ripple blanket that I started for her on October 29th, phew, big relief.

The yarn used is Stylecraft & I used Parchment, Silver (which looks a bit blue) Mocha, Rosehip & Walnut

She wanted one to go over the end of the bed & add a bit of colour to her bedroom.

I hope she likes it, but if not she’ll have to use it anyway or I can pretend to be mortally offended ***grins & twiddles imaginary villainous moustache***

It’s just a quick post from me today as I want to get some more things crossed off my list, including making a page kit for my Month in Numbers page, there’s only 6 days of number recording left to go now for this month, so I must get a move on.

Also don’t forget you still have until Sunday 27th November to enter the Buttons Challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog, just link a photo of your creation to this post here.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Ripple Blanket,Crochet,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Buttons,Month in Numbers

The Yarn Gang

2011-11-22T17:24:00.001Z

Evening all, there’s nothing like a cold, dark, dismal, damp evening to make me realise just how glad I am that I don’t have to go out anywhere tonight. I’m going to have a bubble bath, put on my fuzzy pj’s, knit, crochet, watch the new episode of Vampire Diaries & cross a few more jobs off my to do list – hopefully – that’s the plan anyway.

I have another scrapbooking layout to share with you today, a few weeks ago I met up with Jenny, Emma, Heather & Rachel at Jenny’s house, we chat on Twitter, scrapbook & knit & crochet so there will never be a shortage of conversation when we meet up, we all went to Rachel’s house earlier in the year & this was the return visit for Heather & Rachel to visit Lancashire. It’s always an enjoyable day when we meet up, Jenny had the teapot filled constantly, there were cakes a plenty & possibly enough yarn to open a wool shop.

Just before I left (I had to go a bit earlier) we collared Jenny’s lovely hubby to take some group photo’s of us all. This one was one I pinched from Heather’s blog (with her permission of course) as once again I forgot my camera.

I’d been saving this patterned paper, but have no idea why, but it was perfect for this project as all of us are working on ripple blankets for Heather’s Ripple Along & there were a fair few ripples there on the day, well the pattern is perfectly ripplish, when I found the stitching rub-ons I thought my day couldn’t get any better until I spotted Purple Pompom ribbon in my ribbon jar & hey ho the layout just flew together after that, I love the bright colours too, they look a bit like Heather’s ripple blanket.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’m going to go & run that bubble bath.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Crochet,yarn gang,knitting,heather,jenny,rachel,emma,tea,cakes

Summer Scrapping on a Winters Day

2011-11-20T14:03:00.001Z

Hi there, well I know it’s not quite officially Winter yet, but it’s cold enough outside for me to think it is, it’s also quite foggy, which is very eerie when your house backs onto a field, looks quite bleak & spooky really.

I’m currently on a using up stash mission at the moment & am also trying to speed up my scrapping process, so I’m making up page kits from all my stash over the week & making the pages at the weekend, so it gives me the week to come up with sketches & ideas so that I know exactly what I want to do when I sit down to use the kit I’ve put together and all in all it seems to be working, I’ve already made 3 pages this weekend & have a couple more I want to get started.

This page was made from my June/July Quirky kit & some extra bits that I discovered whilst rootling around through my stash (kind of like a hedgehog rummaging & snuffling through the Autumn leaves)

The photo is DD on the beach making sandcastles over the Summer holidays, The journaling reads: The beauty of living just 5 minutes from the seaside is that on a hot & sunny day you can decide to go to the beach at a moments notice as often as you like.

I’m liking layouts that have lots of little bits on them at the moment & it’s a great way of using up all of those little scraps of paper I just can’t bear to put in the bin.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,seaside,Quirky kits,sandcastles

Buttons, Buttons, Brilliant Buttons

2011-11-17T16:08:00.001Z

Evening all, Happy Thursday to all of you, just a quick post from me today to let you know there is a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog. This weeks challenge was set by the lovely Melly & as you may have guessed by the title of this post, the challenge is

BUTTONS

Just use buttons on your creation (if you have Sarah Hurley products it would be great to see how you use them, but you don’t have to use them to be eligible enter the challenge)

So here is what I made:

I love this photo of my DD she was 3 years old & was entranced by the twinkly lights & sparkly crystals on my Mum’s Christmas tree & just lay on the sofa staring at them for ages, I also have a feeling that she was a bit tired after being so excited & just sort zoned out for a bit to recharge. I wanted to keep the layout really simple as I wanted the photo to be the focus, the patterned paper is from the Tinseltown CD recently released by Sarah. I used the lid of an old roses tin from last Christmas to create the button circle, I placed the lid over the layout & glued the buttons around it. The journaling reads: You were absolutely entranced by all the twinkling lights & sparkling baubles on Nana’s Christmas tree.

To enter the challenge all you need to do is create something using buttons & link your creation to this post here. You can see all of the DT’s fabulous creations for the buttons challenge here. You have until Sunday 27th November to enter & there are prizes.

Well that’s all from me for tonight, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Buttons,Tinseltown CD,Sarah Hurley,Melly,Scrapbooking

Tea & Writing off the Weekend

2011-11-15T16:12:00.001Z

Hey there, how’s it going, it’s Tuesday, which means it’s no longer Monday, which is always a good thing in my book.

I had great plans for this last weekend, mainly involving going to a new crop, meeting some new crafty peeps, making loads of layouts, doing some knitting & crochet & spending time with friends & family, however all of those plans were abruptly shelved when I woke up at 4am on Saturday morning with one of my evil migraines, I ended up spending most of Saturday asleep in bed & the rest of Saturday feeling a bit sick and Sunday passed me by in a blur of exhaustion from the previous days poorliness. So I was not a happy camper this weekend. However I’m feeling much better now, still a little tired but that will pass soon enough.

I managed to complete a layout last week, so whilst I’m making all the pages I should have made at the crop on Saturday I have this one left to share with you…

I’m trying a new stash busting tactic, which involves putting together the basics of my layout then rummaging through the rest of my stash, finding anything that co-ordinates, matches or goes with the general theme of the layout then seeing if it will work on that particular page, it seems to be working quite well, I’ve used up a few random bits of stash on this page & it’s something I’m going to keep on doing.

I have a thing for tea, I can’t ever drink enough of it & it’s the perfect compliment to cake, I’ve made a few layout’s about tea now & I’m desperate to buy a pretty tea pot & matching cup for my tea obsession, I just haven’t found one that I’ve both liked & been able to afford yet.

That’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,tea,using up stash.

More Tinseltown Creations

2011-11-10T18:08:00.001Z

Hi, hi, hi, I’m having a happy day in the Crafty Alchemist’s Workshop, I’ve managed to get loads of stuff crossed off my to do list, including those pesky household chores, I’ve inked, painted, stuck things down, all whilst singing loudly to Michael Buble, Adele & The Stone Roses, which when you think about it is one heck of a musical combination lol. I’ve even filed & organised all the photos on my laptop & backed them up, I feel like Super Girl today!

I’ve still been busy with creating Christmas projects with the new Tinseltown CD from Sarah Hurley & let me assure you there are plenty more Tinseltown creations to come. First up is a little card & matching tag set…

I plan to make a stack of Christmas cards & gift tags for this Christmas using Tinseltown & some of my existing stash, if I’m honest I’ve been planning to make cards & tags every year but never get around to it but this year I’m determined lol. I used Kraft cardstock for the card & tag & cut the tag using the Sizzix Traditional Tag die, I added a few buttons because I love using buttons.

I’ve also been creating layouts using last years Christmas photos, I tend to find it hard to scrap my Christmas photos as by the time I’ve had them printed & am ready to work with them I’m all Christmassed out.

Last year as I’m sure you can all remember we had piles of snow, even here by the seaside where the snow rarely sticks, so I figured it would be good to scrap a photo or two just in case it doesn’t stick for another few years.

I love using shaped layouts so I went for my scalloped circle template & used white cardstock to make the whole layout look like a snowball, I also hand stitched a circle as a border on the layout to break up the whiteness of the cardstock a bit. The little tickets on the top left of the layout (as you look at the screen) are one of my favourite elements on this CD, some come with writing on & some are plain to add your own journaling.

Well that’s all from me for now, tonight I will be snuggling on the sofa working on my Mother In Laws Christmas present – another crocheted ripple blanket whilst munching my way through a mahoosive bar of Galaxy chocolate that hubs bought me (he can occasionally be a pain but sometimes he’s worth his weight in …erm… chocolate :D )

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. I hope you have a lovely evening whatever you may be doing.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Tinseltown CD,Sarah Hurley,Scrapbooking,Christmas,Christmas cards,gift tags

Vintage Style Ripple Blanket – Done!

2011-11-08T17:25:00.001Z

Hey, hey, hey, how are you?

I’m just getting used to the long dark nights & am very thankful for scented candles & staying in all snuggled up (it’s what keeps me sane).

You may remember 3 weeks ago when I said that the lovely Heather & Lucy were hosting a ripple along & that myself & several other crafty friends (Jenny, Emma & Rachel) were joining in, I had decided to make a ripple for my Nan for Christmas & figured this would make me get on with it. Well we went to Jenny’s last month (I will share the pics soon I promise) & when I pulled the ripple out of the bag there was a gasp from the group, so I froze rabbit in headlight style & wondered what was wrong, were the colours awful? was my ripple wonky? Thankfully it was just a gasp of surprise over the fact that in just 2 weeks I was about two thirds of the way through the blanket. It would appear I’m a fast crocheter, I have to admit that the speed I ripple at is not something I’ve ever considered, but I tend to do one knitting or crochet project at once as I’m an instant gratification knitter/crocheter & if I was working on several things nothing would seem to get anywhere, I’d get bored & the project would get frogged. So with a huge sigh of relief I sat down & continued to ripple. I am extremely chuffed to tell you that on Saturday 5th November at 8.30pm I finished the ripple, ends woven in & all. So what do you think of it?

I used Stylecraft yarn as because it’s 100% acrylic I figured it would be easier for Nan to wash & dry it. The colours I picked were Dusty Rose, Parchment, Raspberry, Mocha, Grape & Camel, I was a bit worried about the Camel at first but it all works really well, it reminds me of a vintage Neopolitan ice cream, in fact I like it so much it will a wrench to give it away, but at least it’s one present crossed of my Christmas present shopping list.

Here’s the full blanket spread out on my bed

You can just see the little white legs of my teddy bear in the top of the photo (yes I’m 31 & still sleep with a teddy bear, I’m not ashamed to admit it, his name is Snowy, he is also 31 & flat as a pancake after being slept on for 31 years lol).

My mother in law saw the blanket when I was working on it & for some stupid reason I offered to make her one for Christmas too – talk about putting pressure on myself, so I’m about a fifth of the way through that & I haven’t even started to cast on my Mum’s Christmas jumper yet! I’d really better get a move on or else I’m going to have to buy them presents instead.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: knitting,crochet,ripple along,ripple blanket,Stylecraft

A New Challenge

2011-11-05T10:26:00.001Z

Hey, hey, hey! Remember remember the 5th of November, so what are you all up to tonight, bonfires, fireworks displays? Me? I’ll be hiding in the lounge at my craft desk drowning out all the big noises with music, I don’t like fireworks, they really freak me out (I was hit by a stray rocket as a kid, thankfully I was unhurt, but it gave me one heck of a fright).

There was a new challenge up on the Sarah Hurley challenge blog on Thursday & the challenge is:

Use more than 2 images

So here is my creation for the challenge

This was my DD playing the Angel Gabriel in last years school nativity play, she was in the Reception class & is normally terrified of speaking in front of people she doesn’t know & has a tendency to whisper, but she did really well, I was so proud of her.

I used the Tinseltown CD which has just been released by Sarah, in fact all of the DT used Tinseltown this time (I told you we all loved this latest CD) The only things that aren’t from the CD on the layout are the Thickers, 4 brads & a button.

Be sure to hop on over to the challenge blog to see what all of the DT created for this challenge, there’s some great Christmas inspiration on there. You have until Sunday 13th November to enter & there are prizes :D All you have to do is link your creation to this post here. Hope you join us & looking forward to seeing what you make using more than 2 images.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Hope you have a lovely Bonfire Night, whatever you may be doing, stay safe & snug.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Sarah Hurley DT,use more than 2 images,Tinseltown,Christmas,Challenge

Tinseltown New Release

2011-11-03T13:47:00.001Z

Hey, hey, hey, how are ya?

I’ve got a couple of things to share with you today & they are Christmas related (yep, I made Christmas stuff last month ***polishes virtual halo***) They are both made with items from Sarah Hurley’s latest product release Tinseltown (which can be purchased here) It really is a wonderful CD filled with papers, embellishments, tags, all sorts of Christmas stuff, I’ve had a fab time playing with them & am seriously working out if I have time to create a totally handmade Christmas. The CD doesn’t have to be used digitally (but it can) I usually print off what I want to use & make it hybrid style, the Tinseltown CD is also great for all ages as my 5 year old DD had a great time playing with the products too & as I print the papers etc I really don’t mind her pinching them (unlike some of my other stash). It also has a set for writing your letter to Santa – DD loves it!!

So first up is a little Christmas layout:

The little bear in the photo is my daughters & his name is Snuffy I woke up on the morning of Christmas eve last year to find this little fluffy fella sat by our Christmas tree amongst some presents from friends. He was wearing this little festive bow & holding the Magic Key that Santa uses to get into our house on Christmas Eve, when I asked my daughter what he was doing there she replied “he’s looking after the key to make sure Santa can find it, and to tell Santa that he’s been a very good bear this year”.

The patterned papers, journaling spot, bingo card, stamp, letter to santa card & little scalloped embellie all come from Sarah’s Tinseltown CD. The brads, Thickers & alpha stickers are from my stash.

The next project kind of represents me in a nutshell, I’m an organisational freak, I have lists & lists & lists of things to do, buy, make, sort out etc. But one thing I’m always shockingly disorganised about is Christmas, but not this year, oh no, because this year I have this….

The Christmas Clipboard…

It’s an A5 chipboard clipboard (ooh that rhymes) made by Woodware & I cannot remember where I bought it, it was about £1.25.

I covered the front & back using papers from the Tinseltown CD & covered the join in the paper with self adhesive ribbon (I can’t remember whose, it could be DCWV). I made a pocket out of patterned paper on the front which holds little notes & an envelope for secret stuff…

I used the part of the Letter to Santa kit to decorate the little envelope I’d found & used a postmark stamp that I had, the journaling cards are also from the CD.

I decorated the back like this:

All of the things on here are from the CD too (apart from the ribbon hiding the join lol).

So this year I have no excuse not to be ready for Christmas.

Be sure to check out Sarah’s blog & the Challenge Blog here to see what Sarah & all of the DT have been making with Tinseltown (we’ve been seriously loving it!!)

There’s also a new challenge up on the challenge blog today:

Use more than two images

Check it out here, to enter just link to your creation on this post here, you have until Sunday 13th November to enter. There’s a lot of Tinseltown on the challenge blog too :D

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snuggly & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Tinseltown,New Release,Christmas,Scrapbooking,Altered,Clipboard.

Month in Numbers {double edition} & pumpkins

2011-10-31T15:53:00.001Z

Hey, hey, hey & Happy Halloween to you all.

I have a double edition of Month in Numbers for you this month as I was caught out by the dreaded Flu in September & by the time I’d sorted my page out it was way too late to post it, it just didn’t feel right so I thought I’d save it for this month instead.

So if you don’t know what Month In Numbers is take a look here on Julie’s blog Notes on Paper, she’s the creator of this monthly project.

So here is my September page:

My numbers for September were:

16: Cakes eaten

5: The number of Christmas presents I have bought so far (I’m starting early this year)

6: The number of days I lost to a nasty bout of flu (this number was a last minute addition)

3: books read this month

10: Pumpkins ripening nicely for Halloween

37: The age JP turned this month

1: The year Hermione went into in school this year (my girly is growing up so fast)

And here is my October page

And my numbers for October were:

26:Balls of wool bought to make several Christmas Presents

15: Pumpkins harvested from the vegetable patch

24: The weight in lbs of my largest pumpkin

9: Deliciously scrumptious cakes eaten.

3: The number of Christmas presents I started making

5: The number of us that went to Jenny’s house on Saturday to knit, eat cake & chat.

So those are my numbers for September & October.

Now onto the pumpkins, I know that all of you who read my blog regularly (for which I am eternally grateful – thank you) know that I grow my own pumpkins as well as other veg, you also know that I knit, crochet, scrapbook & that if something stands still for long enough I’ll alter it, well hubs was showing one of his work colleagues my blog the other day & he does not believe that this is possible, he actually said that I bought my pumpkins from the supermarket & that it’s not possible that one person can do so many things, now obviously I feel that I need to respond to this statement, so here we go... Shame on you Mr Hall (yes, Gaz I mean you) I did grow them & I carved them all by myself, so here’s a picture of them all lit up & looking spooky

Well that’s all from me for now, I’ll be back later in the week with more to share (I got out of my routine completely over the half term holidays).

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, Happy Haunting & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: month in numbers,julie kirk,halloween,pumpkins

Misting Challenge

2011-10-21T12:48:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, how are you, it’s Friday woohoooo, DD has broken up from school & half term is in full swing, we’ve just tidied her bedroom & have had lunch & we both have some crafting planned for this afternoon.

There was a new challenge posted on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog yesterday & this time the challenge was:

MISTING

I decided to alter a chocolate box that I had been admiring in my “things to alter box” for about 12 months….

I cut lots of chipboard cogs using the Tim Holtz cog die & glued them together to make them thicker, then glued them onto the box…

I then mixed some PVA glue & water together (about 40% glue 60% water) and coated the front of the box with the PVA mix, I then covered the glue with toilet roll (oh just how classy am I?? lol) (I split the toilet roll so that it was thin single ply) & kept adding more glue & toilet roll until the box & cogs were covered.

I sprayed the box all over with Sarah’s Sepia spray ink & worked it into the box with a foam brush, the ink soaked in differently in areas of the box which added some extra shades making it look more worn & distressed.

Next I dry brushed gold & silver paint over the raised chipboard cogs to make them stand out…

Then I added a Grungeboard keyhole & some metal washers (which I pilfered from Dad’s workshop). I also added a huge pendant from a necklace that I bought from a car boot sale…

I’ve also covered the inside cover & base of the box in paper form Sarah’s Wonderland cd.

Now I just need to find something to put in it :) I actually managed to take photos all the way through this project – I am trying lol.

You can enter the misting challenge by misting a project then linking up to this post here. The DT have created some great projects for this challenge & you can see them all here. You have until Sunday 30th October to enter your creation. There are prizes too :D Check it out.

Well, that’s all from me for now, Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave awesome comments, it really is much appreciated.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Misting,Sarah Hurley Spray Inks,Alterations Die,Steampunk,Sarah Hurley DT

One thing leads to another

2011-10-18T18:18:00.001+01:00

Hi there, I’ve decided to sign up for Tam’s Life Book course over on Willowing, the idea really appealed to me, but I wasn’t sure if I was up to staying committed to it for the whole year, as life gets in the way & stuff happens etc, but I figured I’d go for it & if my enthusiasm starts to wane I’m sure my friend Darcy who is also doing the course will give me a kick in the right direction, I also wasn’t sure about my own arty skills as I didn’t want to make a lot of pages that I didn’t feel happy with or weren’t that good, so to get me in the right frame of mind I thought I’d finish Art Heart & Healing which was a course on Willowing that I started last year & didn’t finish as I got distracted by other stuff, so I revisited it, made a start on the board book for week 2 & got distracted again, but as I got distracted by the course content that’s fine. Basically I’ve become a little bit addicted to drawing Whimsies, I was drawing a little Whimsy girl for my board book but felt she was too pretty to sit inside a book. Then out of the blue, my hubs said that the walls by my craft space are too bare & that they need some of my artwork on them, now I was a bit surprised by this as my husband had once told me that me & my craft stuff were like mould, I started in one corner & spread through the house with nobody noticing until it was too late, I kind of agree but personally I wouldn’t have used the mould analogy. I’d wanted to put some art on the walls but as my space is in the lounge I didn’t think I could get away with. So once I’d checked his head for any bumps or other signs of injury – he was fine – I started work on a canvas & knew my little Whimsy girl would be perfect for it.

I covered my canvas in pages form an old book, then using my Neo-Colours II started colouring in the background, so it looked like this…

but it needed more so I brayered some white acrylic paint over the top & added some more colour & then I got distracted (are you noticing a theme regarding my attention span here?) & forgot to take any more photos until it was finished lol. Basically I kept adding & layering colours & stamping on some text & then when I was just about to glue my Whimsy girl on I decided she needed wings, so I cut some out of some book pages & glued them & the girl onto the canvas, but it still looked a bit bare, I felt it needed hearts & butterflies. I cut them from book pages, the hearts by hand & the butterflies with a Sizzix die. Again I coloured them all in using my Neo-Colour II water colour wax crayons (the best arty pressie anyone has ever bought me). So finally here is the finished canvas, it also has a little inspirational message to keep me crafting when my mojo fails me….

All I need to do is find the perfect place for her on the wall by my desk & hopefully she will turn into a real Mojo Fairy. I have to admit that this is one of those pieces that I keep looking at & thinking “Did I really make that? It’s really quite good”

This was the final bit of persuasion to make me realise that I really really want to do the Life Book course & that I am capable of doing it too. So I’m signing up on Thursday :D

You can check out the Life Book course here.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, stay snug & hope to see you again soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: canvas,neo colours,art heart & healing,willowing,life book

Works in progress

2011-10-16T12:17:00.001+01:00

Hi there, how’s it going? I’ve been super busy lately & seem to have lots of works in progress on the go at the moment, my craft desk has 4 projects on there to finish & a pile that need starting like last week! Today I’m hoping to crack on & finish 2 of the projects & maybe start one or two more.

I’m also knitting & crocheting like there’s no tomorrow, I’ve decided to knit a cardi for my mum for Christmas & crochet a ripple blanket for my Nan for Christmas, now this would have been fine if I decided this in July, but it was only decided last week so now I’m working to a tight timescale. I’ve ordered the pattern book containing mums pattern, well actually Mum has ordered it for my Christmas present so I’ll have to get the pattern out of it then hand the book back to her.

I’m also knitting myself a jumper, but this is mainly a cover up, I can’t sit at my Mum’s for a few hours & not do anything so normally I’d take my knitting or crochet, but if Mum or Nana are there I can’t work on their gifts in front of them, so the jumper is just to keep me sane. Here’s what I’ve done on my jumper so far…

It has a huge cowl neck & is knitted from the top down, so this bit is the neck.

I’ve also made a lot of progress on Nana’s ripple, which I only started on Friday night…

I’ve done a bit more since this photo was taken, but these are the 6 colours I’m using, I was going to add a plum border but it makes the camel colour look a bit mustardy so I think I’ll leave the plum alone.

I’m also joining in Lucy & Heather’s Ripple Along, Heather said that they were joint hosting a Ripple Along & ripple fever to set in (again), so myself, Jenny Emma, Rachel & Leanne are getting in on the act too, handy seeing as Myself, Jenny, Heather, Emma & Rachel are having a knitting day at Jennys’ at the end of the month. I’m so looking forward to a day of girly chat, tea & cake.

Ok, I’m going to have to dash, I need to help DD with her homework & complete some of these projects.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely Sunday & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Knitting,Crocheting,Ripple blanket,Ripple Along

Sunshine & Pumpkins

2011-10-13T17:53:00.001+01:00

Not a combination you see often, but one I have to share with you today. First up, the sunshine bit, I’m a bit of an optimist, I try to find the good things in people & situations, looking for the silver lining, or as one of my work colleagues always tells me, I’m the only person she knows who wears sunglasses when it’s raining. There were some lovely sunny papers in my July/August Quirky Kit & I had a photo of me, but no story to go with it, until I focussed on the sunglasses on my head, I distinctly remember it was not sunny when my mum took that photo, but there I am with shades on my head, eternally looking for the sunshine, with that thought, a film title popped into my head… The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless mind. I’ve never seen the film & my mind is far from spotless so I twiddled with the title a bit & came up with The Eternal Sunshine of my Chaotic Mind, it sums me up quite well I think.

I’ve added a few bits of my own stash in an effort to get some of it used up, in fact I’ve started adding co-ordinating stash to my kits to get it used up & I find it’s working quite well, I’ve used up a few different alpha stickers, journaling stickers & a couple of bits of ribbon.

So, now the pumpkin bit of my post, some of you know that I grow my own vegetables & that I love growing pumpkins, I’ve been mentioning my pumpkins in posts on here throughout the year but I’ve not really shared any photos. Anyhow, last night was pumpkin picking night (or pumpkinging according to DD lol) and here they are…

This is the largest pumpkin at 24lbs, not my biggest ever but I’m happy with it & that’s my dad behind me…Hiya Dad!!!

DD helping us find them, the one she is pointing at was 23lbs & the one on her head was knitted by her Nana (aka Mum)

A barrow filled with pumpkins (9 of them), we still have 3 in the now very overgrown vegetable patch.

And here they are all in a row, I’m giving a few to friends & DD has taken one into school, but I’m keeping the biggest 3 to carve for Halloween. Does anyone know any good pumpkin recipes?

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Quirky Kits,Pumpkins,Halloween,Sunglasses

Summer Scrapbooking & Cable Jumper

2011-10-10T16:32:00.001+01:00

Hey there, how’s it going? It’s cold, wet & miserable here, but that means warm fires, cups of tea & big snuggly jumpers, so I can just about deal with it. Speaking of big snuggly jumpers I’d like to share this one with you…

It’s my first attempt at knitting cable & I loved it, it’s worked sideways so that the cable runs from side to side. (I have no idea why I seem to be grimacing in that picture, I was smiling – honestly I was)

It’s knitted in Magnum Chunky & is super warm (although I’m not too sure about the colour now it’s knitted up), I could live in a jumper like this, so I’m casting on another one in beige, it will go with everything in my wardrobe!

In spite of the chilly damp weather I have a summery layout to share from way back when we saw actual sunshine & it was hot outside (for about 2 weeks in July I think). DD & I trundled off to the beach with a bucket & spade to build some sandcastles. I also took the camera.

The photos matched my July/August Quirky Kit perfectly & I have a few more sunshine based layouts lined up in my head. However this was one of those layouts that just didn’t look quite right when it was finished so I went for the “just keep adding more stuff until it looks better” approach to finishing a layout, I’m still not 100% sure I like it but it’s better than it was.

I scalloped the edge of the cardstock using a template I made from a piece of die cut cardstock, I added the flowers, buttons, flair button, Thickers, Chipboard & Letter stickers & the brown spotty ribbon from my own stash (more than I realised actually). I’d never taken a shadow photo before, & wondered why I hadn’t, so I did :D

Now then, I’ve had my little blog for just over 3 years now, (I can’t believe it’s gone so fast) & am planning a bit of an over haul so I’m asking for your opinions & suggestions, What would you like to see more of on here? I know I’m terrible for not including instructions in my posts but am making a concerted effort to do so from now on. Is there anything you’d like to see less of on here? Is there anything missing from my blog that I haven’t noticed? Any & all suggestions & comments are welcome. Also any advice on making your own backgrounds, buttons & headers would be very very gratefully received :) I’d also like to blog more often but that means having more projects to share, which means working more quickly, so bear with me on that one, it’s a long term goal :D

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have la lovely evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Quirky kits.,Blackpool Beach,Knitting,Cable Pattern,Questions,Scrapbooking

Halloween Horrors

2011-10-06T18:01:00.001+01:00

Evening all, I’ve finally got over the flu that hit me hard at the start of last week & though the sniffles & a nasty cough remain, I’m up, about & getting back on with things, although my week spent snuggled on the sofa watching dvds & feeling sorry for myself meant I got absolutely no crafting done, my desk is filled with unfinished & unstarted projects so I’m going to have to have a marathon crafting session to catch up with myself.

The one thing I have managed to complete this last couple of weeks is a journal page for the new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog. This weeks challenge is sponsored by Derwent & there is an amazing prize up for grabs, I wish I could win it myself :D This weeks challenge is

HALLOWEEN HORRORS

I used Sarah’s Twilight ink spray set & her Teal spray ink to create the background as well as the Retro Square mask from That Special Touch & the Tim Holtz clock mask. The white doodle circles were made by squeezing some White Staz-on ink straight from the bottle (it’s quite sticky & needed drying with a heat gun) The images are from Sarah’s two new Halloween digi kits, Whimsy & Vintage. I coloured the witch in with Promarkers & the title was created by using my Banana Frog Stamps (Madfont) then quickly whizzing over the paper with some Crushed Olive Distress Ink.

All you have to do is create something spooky for Halloween & link to this post here on the challenge blog, there’s also loads of inspiration from the DT. You have until 16th October to enter your creation.

That’s all from me for now, I’m going to mooch on over to my craft area & get back to work. Thanks for taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. I hope you have a lovely evening, take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Sarah Hurley DT,Twilight spray inks,Teal spray ink,art journaling,Halloween,Halloween Horrors

More Spookiness

2011-09-25T09:44:00.001+01:00

Morning all, how are ya? I’m good thanks, a little tired but ok in general so it’s all good. Yesterday we were one again waiting for the men to turn up & install loft & cavity wall insulation & once again they didn’t turn up, I’m noticing a pattern here, apparently this time we weren’t on the job list, in fact they have no record of us at all, so I suspect I’ll have to make a load of phone calls this week to try & rearrange another date – third time lucky I suppose.

I’ve got another layout to share with you today using the new Sarah Hurley Halloween Digi Kits (available here). Sarah has created 2 new kits, Vintage & Whimsy, this layout is made using the Vintage kit, now, I’m not a digi scrapper so I print the papers & use them that way, but you can do it either way with these great kits…

The pumpkins are the 3 I grew & carved last Halloween (wait until you see this years – they’re huge!!!) I added some ribbon, gems & some little orange letter stickers, plus a little bit of hand stitching in the corners.

There was also a new challenge on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog on Thursday – VINTAGE – create anything vintage & link to this post here, the challenge is sponsored by Altered Expression & there are cool prizes up for grabs, you have until Sunday 2nd October to enter.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely Sunday & hope to see you soon.

Cxx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge blog,Whimsy Halloween kit,Vintage Halloween kit,Vintage,Altered Expression,Pumpkins,scrapbooking

A Vintage Challenge

2011-09-23T19:54:00.001+01:00

Woohoooooo! It’s Friday, happy bunnies all round the weekend is here, just a quick post from me tonight as I want to get some crafting done.

There’s a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog which has been sponsored by Altered Expression (check out the shop here). This weeks challenge was:

VINTAGE

I made two tags using Alice in Wonderland images from Altered Expression & here they are:

Both tags were cut from Kraft using my Sizzix & the Super Scalloped Tag die, I then used an different Embossing plate for each (a Cuttlebug one & a Tim Holtz one) & whizzed a bit of ink over the tags to show up the embossing…

I added the Altered Expression images, some ribbons & buttons & hey presto a couple of cute tags.

All you have to do to enter is create something with a vintage theme & link to this post here over on the challenge blog. There’s loads of inspiration from the DT on the challenge blog too, so why not take a look. As usual there are prizes & this time they have been very kindly provided by Altered Expression.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely weekend & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Altered Expression,Vintage,tags,embossing,Alice in wonderland

BOO!!!!

2011-09-20T20:05:00.001+01:00

Did I scare you? what? not even a little bit? Oh well, I’ll try harder next time. So why am I jumping out shouting Boo! at you all? well, it’s nearly Halloween, Autumn is starting to settle in & the night time air has that whiff of bonfires (love it!) & the fabulous Sarah Hurley has released not one but two new Halloween kits, The Whimsy Halloween Kit & The Vintage Halloween Kit (both available in her shop now). I’ve been having a play with them both & they are fab.

Here’s a layout I made using components from each kit…

I used one of my favourite techniques using templates to create a shaped layout, The pink skull & crossbones paper, stripy paper & pink Scary journaling tag are from the Whimsy kit, whilst the ticket, bingo card & alpha flags are from the Vintage kit. I also doodled around the edges of the layout with both black & white pens.

Have a look over on Sarah’s blog & see some of the other projects the DT have created, Sarah will be sharing some more of our creations later in the week so don’t forget to check back.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s much appreciated.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley,Sarah Hurley DT,Halloween,Whimsy,Vintage,Scrapbooking.

Shades of Summer Dress

2011-09-17T08:47:00.001+01:00

Morning all, Its raining buckets again here today so Hubs has cancelled his game of golf due to the course being flooded, so he’s gone to do the weekly shop & DD is playing in a secret den in her room, I’m planning on spending the day doing some crafting. For those of you who saw my last post the workmen who were supposed to be installing loft insulation & cavity wall insulation failed to materialise at all so after several angry phone calls to their offices I finally managed to get them to agree to come next Saturday which means I have another week surrounded by boxes that have been taken out of the attic. If they don’t turn up next week there’s going to be trouble!

I’ve had a few knitting projects on the go of late & here’s a little something I knitted for DD….

The dress is knitted in the round (on circular needles) the pattern for this dress can be found here on Ravelry. It’s a free download & is really easy to follow. The pattern itself is called shades of summer dress, but as the dress is a little big for DD it’s probably going to be a Spring dress (it looks fab with leggings, top underneath & boots) thankfully she’ll grow into it as the largest size for the pattern is 6-7, but I’d rather it was too big than too small.

I’ve used Sirdar Snuggly Crofters DK Baby Fair Isle effect yarn which is lovely & soft & DD picked it herself when we went to the wool shop (incidentally her yarn cost more than the yarn I bought for 2 jumpers!! – she has expensive tastes – can’t imagine where she gets that from :D)

I also added a little bit of ribbon around the waist by threading it through some of the stitches.

Well that’s all from me for now, I might even get my stamp maker machine out later – I’ve got some experimenting to do.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. I hope the weather doesn’t interfere with your weekend plans, take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Shades of Summer Dress,Sirdar,Fair Isle Effect,Knitting,Ravelry

Waiting patiently….

2011-09-15T16:01:00.001+01:00

…is not something I’m very good at, I’ve taken today off work to sit in & wait for the men coming to install my loft insulation & cavity wall insulation, they said between 12.30 & 5pm, its nearly 4pm so I’m betting that at 4.55pm they turn up. Whilst I’ve been waiting I’ve taken all the bags of clothing to the charity shop (before the workmen were due) & I’ve spent the afternoon watching Vampire Diaries season 2, drinking tea & working at my craft desk. I’ve finally managed to print off some of the photos from our girly weekend trip to Dublin back in July (I’m so loving my new printer, just waiting to see how the ink consumption works out but it’s looking better than the previous printer) and I’ve got round to creating layout using one of the pictures…

On the Saturday night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe & had tea in the Jimi Hendrix Suite & afterwards we’d arranged to take the bride out for a limo ride on the Saturday night (which she was clueless about). The chauffer was fab, taking us to places of interest & pointing things out, but when we pulled onto this wonderfully graffitti covered street I insisted that everyone got out of the limo for photos, our wonderful chauffer stood there with 8 different cameras ranging from my DSLR to Diana’s disposable wind on one taking photos of us trying to get us all to look the same way at the same time etc, it was great fun. All of the people living there were coming out to see what was going on & who were the chicks in the big silver limo. So the street we were on was called Windmill Lane & apparently according to the chauffeur the buildings on this street were recording studios, the very ones in which U2 used to record their albums years ago – adding lots of extra cool factor to our trip.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’m going to go back to my craft desk & work on a few other bits whilst waiting for the workmen to appear.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, have a lovely Thursday evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Scrapbooking,Dublin,Hard Rock Cafe,U2,Jimi Hendrix

A Good (Slightly Cracked) Egg

2011-09-13T16:48:00.001+01:00

Hi there, how’s it going? It’s still Illuminations Weather here, which basically means it’s blowing a gale & randomly chucking it down with rain (usually starting whenever I walk out of the office). It’s definitely getting to the time of year when there’s nothing to do but give up, stay in & make stuff (a time I make the most of).

My last post was about my friend Jo, a fellow crafter, someone who understands my love of sparkly things & doesn’t bat an eyelid when I start scrabbling around for pens & paper to draw a design or write down an idea (in fact since she’s started making jewellery she does exactly the same) & after taking some pictures at a mutual friends wedding I decided to make a scrapbook layout to record our friendship & here it is

The journaling reads “A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg, even though she knows you are slightly cracked” The quote is one I borrowed from Bernard Meltzer & is one of my favourite quotes, it also sums us both up perfectly. I have another layout to make of Jo & I at this wedding but I need to get the photo from her, I’ve got it all planned out (on a scrap of paper).

Well that’s all I’ve got to share right now, but I’ve got a pile of stuff to finish & start on my craft desk. Don’t forget you have until Sunday 18th September to enter the Recycle Challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,recycle,scrapbooking

Anyone for tea?

2011-09-11T13:45:00.001+01:00

Hi, how’s it going on this blustery afternoon? I’m helping DD with some homework & then I have a few things I want to make, & about 10 knitting patterns that I want to cast on, so I may do a bit of online wool shopping (any shop recommendations will be gratefully received).

I’ve got a layout to share of my friend Jo at our other friends wedding, Jo is fab, she gets me & my need to make stuff (she makes lovely jewellery) we can spend hours getting distracted by looking at pretty things & saying “Oooooh” a lot, she’s the sort of friend every craft-a-holic needs. She also understand my need for photos & as soon as her pot of tea arrived at the table she asked (in an incredibly faux posh voice) if I would like a photo of her late afternoon tea (sadly lacking cream scones) of course I said yes & here is the resulting layout…

The tea fabric, bakers twine, tea pot journaling spot & blue & green patterned paper are all from my Quirky kit, the tea cup & ticket are from Sarah Hurley’s Wonderland CD, the pink paper & button were from my stash. I mounted the photo onto white card to make it look like a Polaroid photo.

So here’s to friends & afternoon tea :D (I may put the kettle on in a minute)

Don’t forget the Recycle challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog, you have until Sunday 18th September to enter your creation by linking to this post here.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care & enjoy your Sunday afternoon. Hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley,Quirky Kit,Scrapbooking,Tea,Wonderland CD,Recycle,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog

A New Challenge - Recycle

2011-09-08T17:01:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey.

There’s a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog today. This time it was Nat’s turn to set the challenge & she chose…

RECYCLE

I decided to alter an old chocolate box…

So the first thing I had to do was eat the chocolates (it’s a tough job but someone had to do it) which I did at Christmas, about 10 minutes after I’d unwrapped them lol.

I covered the box in pages from a bedraggled copy of Alice in Wonderland, it already had a few pages missing which minimised the guilt I normally feel when pulling pages from a book.

Then I grabbed my inks & covered the book pages in several shades of Distress Ink. (Which, I’ve just discovered, I forgot to take a photo of)

I wanted to use the scene Alice images from Sarah’s Wonderland CD so I printed them off, cut them out & coloured them in with Promarkers…

I used chipboard letters, brackets & an arrow (or parenthesis if you like) that I had coloured in with a black Promarker & added a little metal key that I found, a butterfly from a pound shop bracelet & a keyhole on the front of the box. I wanted to use the Alice who was just discovering the door for the front & to use the other characters inside…

The door opens to reveal Alice wondering whether or not to drink the contents of that bottle & whether or not it may be poisonous (hence the Grungeboard skull & crossbones) & also the White Rabbit. And then the box opens to reveal…

The Queen of Hearts & the Mad Hatter & the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

I used my Dymo labeller to create the wording & borrowed a couple of phrases from the story - “Off with his head!” and also “Clean cup, clean cup, move down, move down”.

You can check out all of the DT’s creations here (please do :D )

You have until Sunday 18th September to enter & as usual there are prizes up for grabs, all you have to do is link up your project to this post here on the challenge blog & we’ll pop by to say hello.

Well that’s all from me for now, I need to make a decision as to what to do later on tonight, do I finish the last few rows of DD’s knitted dress (over 400 stitches a row) or do I play with the craft stuff on my desk that is looking like the beginning of a scrapbook layout, or do I do a bit of both? I’m sure I’ll work it out, I might go have a bubble bath to mull it over :D

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Hope you have a lovely evening, take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog,Recycle,Natalie,Wonderland CD,knitting,scrapbooking

It’s a bloke thing…

2011-09-06T19:22:00.001+01:00

Hi there, is it me or has it gotten distinctly chilly outside? I know it’s very nearly Autumn, but we seem to have skipped that & gone straight to Winter here with blustery gales & mad rain showers – typical Illuminations Weather (as it’s known locally). There’s nothing quite like walking through the Illuminations on Blackpool prom whilst eating a bag of chips & trying not to get blown over (or more importantly – trying to keep hold of your chips :D).

I’ve been scrapping again & I knew when I was taking these photos that they would end up on a layout. This photo is my hubs & his best mate Gaz on Gaz’s wedding day. They’ve known each other all of their lives, grew up on the same street, went to the same school, drank in the same pub (probably after school) & so on. They giggle like naughty school boys when they are together & the more beer they drink the worse they get (although they are really funny & I often end up crying with laughter)

After a long day, filled with happy emotions & several alcoholic tipples came the “I love you man” conversation which had me in fits of laughter (it was also lovely as you could tell it was heartfelt). Bless them :D I wanted to use the title A Certain Kind of Romance, referring to an Arctic Monkeys song (which we like to sing loudly when Gaz brings his guitar), but I couldn’t make it fit so I settled for Bromance instead.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Enjoy your evening, take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,arctic monkeys,boys

A Canvas & A Question

2011-09-04T13:12:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey. Well it’s Sunday & I’m sat in the conservatory drinking a cuppa, I’m already aware that my to do list has not been looked at yet today but I’ll make a start…in a short while, promise.

A couple of weeks ago one of our best friends got married, Gaz, he grew up with my hubby & I’ve known him since I was 16 years old so it was really lovely to stand there & watch him marry the lovely Melanie & to celebrate with them and I wanted to make something special for them, so after checking through all of the photos I took at the wedding (308 to be exact) I found the perfect one & set about making them a canvas…

It’s an A4 canvas from the works, I used white paint & a toot of lemon paint to create the pale lemon back ground & then I sprayed it with Antique Gold Cosmic Shimmer Mist. I cut a large chipboard heart, inked it with Barn Door Distress Ink & Heat Embossed with Gold Embossing Powder & a Banana Frog Background stamp. I attached a trip of lace, some Heart patterned paper, Jenni Bowlin Bingo Card & a Fancy Pants felt shape. The love ticket on the big heart is from Sarah Hurley’s Alice CD. I painted 2 chipboard swirls gold & glued them into the corner & added an American Crafts “Husband & Wife” Flair button. The little diamonds on the canvas are the ones I pilfered from the table at the wedding (luckily the bride understands my magpie like tendencies). I then had to find out from my Mother in Law if the Groom’s mum had a key to the Bride & Grooms house so the present could be snuck in whilst they were on honeymoon. She did & the present was left for their return. They came back the other day & I’m happy to say they both love the canvas & Mel has already hung it up on the wall.

I’ve got a few projects lined up on my desk & several more in my knitting bag, I seem to be obsessed with knitting at the moment, so I’ve got plenty on to keep me busy.

Now, I mentioned a question & I’m hoping one of you can help me, I need a new printer, mine’s never been brilliant, & after the ink ran out (again) after printing 10 photos & a knitting pattern I was pretty fed up, I’ve noticed that the ink seems to go up in price every month or so, but when I went to buy a new cartridge this time it was £30. So I’m looking for a printer with a scanner that gives good value for ink, I don’t mind paying a decent amount for ink as long as it lasts a bit longer. I’ve been thinking about one of the Kodak ones, that state printing has never been cheaper, but what is the print quality like? What do you think, which printer do you use? I’ve heard continuous ink ones are supposed to be good but I don’t know much about them & my budget isn’t big. I’m going to do a bit of online research before I buy but I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations.

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Well that’s all from me for now I’ll be back later in the week. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Canvas,wedding gift,sarah hurley,distress ink,jenni bowlin,printer,fancy pants,question

Month in Numbers – August

2011-09-02T09:40:00.001+01:00

Good morning to you all, how are you? Well, September is upon us, it’s the last day of my week off & DD went back to school yesterday so I’m hoping to get back into some normality & a proper routine really soon. Although I can be spontaneous I much prefer knowing where I’m supposed to be & what I’m supposed to be doing at any given time.

Back to Month In Numbers, Month in Numbers is the creation of Julie Kirk & the idea is to record your life each month using numbers that have featured in your life that month. So here is my layout & numbers for August…

I used a lot of bright colours on this as August to me should be a colourful & bright month (recent weather not withstanding) I got a bit carried way with the doodling & the stickers for the title are attached with 3d foam pads to make them pop from the page. The little month tags that I’ve used all the way through my Month in Numbers pages this year are from Elle’s studio. Now for the bit that makes me feel like a bingo caller, my numbers for August:

7: The number of large pumpkins growing in my pumpkin patch. It’s going to be a record year on my pumpkin patch this year & I suspect that I may break my 36lb pumpkin record, I’m so looking forward to carving them Halloween but as there’s still 2 months to go I have plenty of growing time yet.

6: Hours spent building a huge Lego Harry Potter style castle with Hermione. It was a rainy day in the summer holidays & DD wanted a Harry Potter day but I didn’t want her lying around watching dvds all day (I only let her watch years 1-3 & have to tell her when scary bits are coming so she can look away as she’s only 5. She also said she would like Harry Potter better if Voldemort wasn’t in it ***rolls eyes***) so I suggested we pull out the Lego & build a castle too (we already have Dumbledore’s Office & a couple of Diagon Alley shop sets).

12: Scrumptious cakes eaten – need I say more :0D

308: The number of photos I took at Gaz & Mel’s Wedding. I was the official evening photographer & spent the evening attempting to photograph guests who were throwing shapes on the dance floor & drinking copious amounts of alcohol – good fun really. I am in one of the photographs too – shame its not a good one, I look like a puppet!

and finally 2: Vampire Diaries Season 2 came out on DVD. Yes I bought it, I’m weak & love anything vampire or witch related. My love of all things supernatural started when I was about 5, my school friends would always be the princesses in our games but I always insisted on being the wicked witch or good fairy, depending on what we were playing.

So those are my numbers for August. Make sure you pop by Julie’s blog to check out her numbers too.

My to do list for today is shorter than yesterday (which is good) & the first thing on it is to make an apple & pear crumble for pudding tonight, the apples are from my apple tree & the pears were grown by dad’s friend who agreed to swap some of his pears for my potatoes – this is what I love about growing veg, the swapping of veg, sharing tips with other gardeners but my favourite bit is in the eating of the veg you’ve lovingly grown, it always seems much tastier than shop bought.

So I’m off to peel some apples, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Have a lovely Weekend, take care & hope to see you soon.

Cxx

Technorati Tags: Month In Numbers,Julie Kirk,August

Happy Bank Holiday!!

2011-08-29T09:07:00.001+01:00

Morning all, how’s the Bank Holiday weather where you are today? It’s grey, windy & going to rain here. I’ve been feeling a bit off colour since Thursday but seem to be back to myself this morning, so today I’ll be getting on with all the stuff I should’ve done but haven’t, on the upside to feeling a bit poorly. I spent a lot of time on my sofa, knitting & crocheting.

There was a new challenge over at Sarah Hurley on Thursday sponsored by My Mum’s Craft Shop:

BLING & SPARKLE

I used Sarah’s Wedding Digi set to for the bride & groom (who have been coloured with Promarkers) I cut the top half of the front of the card away, used some of Sarah’s Wonderland Hearts paper on the front & stuck some of Sarah’s Oz pink circle paper in side the card, I cut a large heart from glitter paper & attached it to the front of the card

You can see what the DT made here, you have until Sunday 4th September to enter, just link your creation to this post here.

There’s also still time to enter Sarah’s DT Call until 1st September, you can find all the details here.

Well that’s all from me for now, Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care & have a fab Bank Holiday Monday.

Cxx

Technorati Tags: sarah hurley challenge blog,bling & sparkle,wedding card,wonderland collection,oz,wedding collection,dt call,Sarah Hurley DT

The Ripple Blanket

2011-08-23T17:01:00.001+01:00

Happy Tuesday to you all, why Happy Tuesday you say? well it’s one day nearer the weekend & one less sleep until my week off work.

I’ve finished my first attempt at crochet, I started making a ripple blanket for DD a few weeks ago & after a few false starts, a little bit of un-crocheting, and much hysterical laughter from my mum whilst I was trying to learn how to hold my wool & work, I eventually got the knack & am really pleased with the results…

It’s not perfect but I’m still happy with it. It’s the full length of DD’s bed, but I photographed it on mine, I have no idea why my duvet cover is so creased, I’d put the new duvet cover on about 10mins before I took this photo & I know it was freshly ironed when I put it in the linen cupboard (which would probably implode if anyone put any actual linen inside it)

I also really like the little bobbly bits in the pattern…

I have to say I’ve become completely hooked on crochet (you would be forgiven for groaning at that one :D) but I do find it so absorbing, I start then think wow I’ve done loads, then realise that I’ve been crocheting for about 3 hours, time just flies by.

I knew I’d want to make another ripple blanket quite soon, so last week I told my friend that I would make one for her baby, but as she was having a “surprise baby” ie she didn’t know if it was a boy or girl, I said we’d wait to see if we needed pink or blue, however I am happy to report that a bouncing baby girl arrived on Saturday morning, so I’m now happily rippling a pink & lemon blanket for her.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’ve got things to make, a dress to knit for DD & a baby ripple to finish, so I’d better get my skates on.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Have a lovely evening, take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: crocheting,ripple blanket

A Quirky Layout

2011-08-21T07:55:00.001+01:00

Good Morning Blog Land, & how are you all on this Sunday morning? I’m good thanks, although why I’m up so early I have no idea (its not even 7.30am yet) I just woke up & couldn’t get back to sleep, so I gave up, got up & put the kettle on, but it means I should get quite a few things done today.

My July/August Quirky kit arrived a couple of weeks back & I was going to make a start with it yesterday when I realised I still have quite a bit left from the previous kit so I decided to do a bit more scrapping with that one first. I spent a lovely day making a few layouts & working on a canvas for my friends who got married the other week. The layout I’m going to share with you today is from the May/June Quirky kit & I made it a few weeks ago, I just never got round to sharing it….

I loved this sheet of 12x12 paper (I think it’s Websters Pages) & I couldn’t bear to cut it up so I used it as the background paper for this layout. The journaling reads: I have ambitions, dreams & plans, some are ongoing projects, others are on the back burner, but all of them are documented in many various journals, so many ideas, so many random snippets of information & inspiration. I’m not sure which ones I’ll use or how things will turn out, but maybe, one day, I’ll have a tale to tell.

I love looking forward & making plans & now I’m finally making a big effort to put some of my plans in action & working towards some of the goals I have set myself.

Don’t forget you still have time to enter the DT call over at Sarah Hurley, you can find all the details here.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely Sunday whatever your plans may be hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,quirky kits.,sarah hurley dt,sarah hurley DT call

The Alchemist is back in action….

2011-08-19T16:28:00.001+01:00

Woohoo, it’s Friday, which is always cause for celebration in my house. I’m extra happy that it’s the weekend because my new desk is fully stocked & ready to go (in fact I’ve already started a couple of layouts) so here are a couple of photos of the finished craft space…

Please excuse the rather tired looking draught excluder in the corner, I’m going to recover that (which now that my sewing machine is downstairs will actually be possible) I’ve got tins, boxes & baskets filled with all kinds of crafty goodness on the shelves & on the worktop…

I have my daylight light, Kilner jars filled with beads & embellishments, my favourite stamps now have a pretty wire basket thing to sit in on display & I have room to work on more than 1 project at once, I’m impatient & get fed up of waiting for things to dry.

Well that’s all from me for now I’m off to Mum & Dad’s for a Birthday Tea for my Nana (she was 84 yesterday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA), Then I’m spending the rest of the weekend at my new desk playing with my stash.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: new craft space,birthday tea

New Desk Update & a DT Call

2011-08-17T20:45:00.001+01:00

Hi there, how’s it going?

I was supposed to blog last night but I ended up sorting out a bit more of my new craft space & then finishing the Ripple Blanket I’ve been crocheting for DD (I’ll share photos of that another day). I’ve just put the last few bits of stash onto the new desk, but it’s too dark to take a photo now, however, I do have a couple of photos of it from the other day…

For those of you who didn’t see the first post about my desk, I’ll explain a little, I’m a stand up scrapper so wanted a taller desk so I don’t have to lean over as it hurts my back, luckily my Dad is a joiner & after a bit of persuasion I talked him into making me a desk to suit my needs (and house my stash) we drew a few diagrams & came up with a design I liked, ordered the wood & off we went to the workshop. And here is the finished thing…

I put a few things on it, but I didn’t have any storage boxes to put the small stuff in that used to sit on my shelves, so I had to leave it until I’d been to Dunelm for some new pretty boxes, this is as far as I got…

And I still had all this to re-organise & put away…

Thankfully it’s all done now & I’m really pleased with it, (I’ll probably post photos on Friday) Although I know I’ll keep re-organising it & moving stuff around as I haven't got everything perfectly just where I need it yet & I’m still hunting down a set of shelves for the wall above the desk.

So that’s my new craft space, I’m so relieved to have it back, not being able to make stuff because I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for was unsettling me lol.

I also mentioned a DT call, the fabulous Sarah Hurley is having a DT call & you can find the details here, you have until midnight on the 1st September to submit your entries. Good luck to those of you who apply :D

Well that’s all from me for now, I’m going to hop around some blogs then maybe start knitting a jumper dress for DD. Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: new craft desk,sarah hurley,sarah hurley DT,DT call

Back in Blog Land

2011-08-14T12:53:00.001+01:00

Hi, hi, hi

Sorry for my absence from Blog Land over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been decorating my lounge ready for the arrival of my new craft desk, I’m happy to say the lounge is finished, the craft desk is in place & the final coat of paint is drying as I type, my craft stuff however is still in a big heap in the corner of the lounge & I’m still struggling to find stuff so crafting has had to take a back seat, I’ve just about managed to keep up with my DT commitments but that’s all the crafting I’ve been doing. I should be able to start re-stocking the desk tomorrow, normal craftiness will resume shortly :D

There was a new challenge on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog on Thursday last week which was to use stitching on a project, so here is what I made…

The pink patterned paper, Dorothy & Toto are from Sarah’s Oz cd (which can be found here) & Toto & Dorothy have been coloured in with Promarkers, I doodled some stitching around the edge of the tag & the patterned paper, then stitched running stitch along a length of lace & pulled it tight so it ruffled, I then used glue dots to attach it to the tag.

You can see what all of the DT made here & you still have plenty of time to enter as the challenge is open until next Sunday 21st August, just leave us a link on this post here.

Also to add to my busy week my 2 of my friends got married on Thursday & I was making the table plan for them, well now that they are married I can share it with you…

Its a big 3d frame & films were the theme for the tables, it took weeks of planning to get this right & I was so pleased when I saw it all assembled & in place at the venue for the wedding, although I’ve still not forgiven the groom (one of our best friends) for putting us on the Planet of the Apes table.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’m off to catch up on reading your blogs.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, enjoy what’s left of today & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: sarah hurley dt,sarah hurley challenge blog,promarkers,oz Collection,wedding table plan

July Month In Numbers …

2011-07-31T16:21:00.001+01:00

Hey there! How’s it going? Hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday afternoon.

I’m all excited today as yesterday Dad & I were building my new craft desk, here are a couple of pics so far….

drilling the frame together & below, putting the 2 frames together…

The desk is huge, I’m a stand up scrapper so it’s the right height for me instead of a dining table, however I have realised that I need to decorate before the desk is finished at the weekend & I’m back to work this week so I’m going to be painting & building a desk & decorating the lounge/craft space, as well as working, so pretty much as soon as I’ve been round the blogs I’ll be packing away the craft stuff for a week – how will I survive lol. Seriously though, I can’t wait to get the lounge finished & the new desk in.

It’s also time for Month in Numbers for July. Month in Numbers is the creation of Julie Kirk & you can check out her numbers for July on her blog here (please do, she’s really lovely:)) I cannot believe it’s August tomorrow, the year is speeding by at an alarming rate, so here is my page…

The significant numbers in my life this month were:

8: The number of us girls that went to Dublin for a hen weekend.

5: Euro cocktails, we were happy when we found these as most cocktails were 10 Euros & it was 7 Euros 80cents for a Vodka & lemonade (fortunately I don’t like vodka)

£38: the price I paid for the perfect pair of shoes to match my lace dress for a friends wedding in August.

2: The issue number of Mollie Makes Magazine sent to me by Julie (the very same lovely Julie mentioned above) as I missed issue 2 in the shops.

192: The number of miles my friend Jo started walking (yesterday) on the Coast to Coast walk for the British Heart Foundation.

846: The number of 3d foam pads used on the wedding table plan for a friend.

9: Cakes eaten this month (did you think I’d forgotten the cakes??)

Okay, so I’m going to start clearing away the craft stuff, so I can get painting tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely Sunday evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: month in Numbers,Julie Kirk,Decorating,joinery.

A New Challenge – Punch It

2011-07-29T09:38:00.001+01:00

Morning all, well, it’s Friday & my week off is coming to a close & I’m back to work next week but I have some more time off over the Summer Holidays so I’m not complaining (yet, but I will be on Monday morning lol). I’ve had a really good week, I bought the perfect outfit for my friends wedding, finished the table plan & place cards for the same wedding & handed them to the bride with a huge sigh of relief, we went to the beach & built sandcastles, my Bind It All arrived & to top it all, my Dad rang yesterday to tell me he’d made the frame for my new craft/work desk & it should be ready to be painted by next week – that last bit made me jump for joy, so all in all this week has been awesome & I still have the weekend to go, which involves going to a craft fair tomorrow & crafting & making things just because I can & I want to (I was under a lot of pressure with the wedding stuff).

There was a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog yesterday, the challenge is Punch It, use a punch or punches on a project. Here’s what I made…

Now anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I have a weakness for cake, & I can’t think of a better way of inviting friends round for cake & a cuppa than sending them a card like this. The cake paper is from Sarah’s Wonderland CD & Glinda the Good Witch of the North is from Sarah’s Oz CD, I coloured her in with Promarkers. I used a Martha Stewart Doily Punch to punch along the edge of the card & although you can see it here I’ve stuck the pink polka dot paper (also from the Oz CD) inside the card so it shows behind the punched edge when the card is closed. You can see the rest of the DT’s creations here. The challenge is open until Sunday 7th August, just link up your creation on the post on the challenge blog here. Remember there are prizes.

Well that’s all from me, I’m going to go & spend the day crafting with DD & starting to re-organise my craft space in preparation for the new desk arriving. Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated, take care, have a good Friday & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley Challenge blog,Sarah Hurley DT,Punches,card,BIA,Promarkers,Oz Collection,Wonderland collection

Summer Holiday Scrapping

2011-07-26T08:36:00.001+01:00

Morning everyone, how are you all? The sun is shining here & I’ve been awake since 6.30am as DD has been playing noisily & blowing a whistle in her room, so much for having a holiday lie in, I’m going to bin that whistle if I find it later. So as you may have gathered I have woken up slightly grumpy this morning, I need to turn it around, rapidly.

Yesterday I had a fab day, I went shopping in town with Mum & DD, I managed to get the perfect dress that I’ve been looking for for a friends wedding in August, even better it was in the sale, I also managed to get the perfect matching shoes, we then went home for lunch & cakes…yum, then my wonderful Mum treated me to a Bind It All Machine with all the accessories, how lucky can one girl be,so now I’m postie stalking, by the end of the week I’ll be a happy crafter & my postie will have a slightly nervous disposition.

So to turn off today’s grumpiness I have a sunny smiley layout to share with you today…

I used a template from my “trusty bag of templates” as it’s become known, to get the scalloped circle shape for this layout & used my May/June Quirky Kit for the papers & embellishments, the yellow sticker with the hearts on is a Sassafrass Lass sticker form another kit. I’ve doodled around the edge of the scalloped circle & around the edge of the patterned paper circle.

The journaling reads The sun is shining, summer is on its way, the sunglasses are ready to go, bring on the summer & the sunshine xoxo.

I’d better go & put my dungarees on & get started as today I’m going to finish some things I agreed to make for a friends wedding, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Getting back into a groove…

2011-07-21T19:54:00.001+01:00

Hey there, how are you? Me? I’m ok thanks for asking, I seem to still be playing catch up from my weekend in Dublin, still feel exhausted & trying to get back into some sort of routine, which is pointless because school breaks up tomorrow & the routine will go out of the window for the summer holidays, but it also means some time off from what I call “the mortgage paying job” to have a few fun days out & hopefully do a bit of crafting with DD, I might, if I’m extremely lucky, manage to sneak a little lie in in too :D

I’ve been playing with the last Quirky Kit I received (May/June) and it’s about time seeing as the July/August one is due out very very soon…

I took my camera to my mums with the specific intention of having some photos taken of me & getting some good photos of my DD, mum also got some good ones of DD & I together, this one was one of my favourites…

The blue background in the photo are the rear garage doors, which are looking a bit shabby, I love them but Dad is replacing them with plain wooden ones, I’ll miss my bright blue backdrop, I could always paint the new doors when they go on holiday ;oD

I used one of my favourite set of template shapes to make this layout, I’ve also stitched by hand around the edge with back stitch. The Kiss card is one I’ve had in my stash for ages as are the Thickers, I’ve also attached some ruffled lace with glue dots & hidden the glue dots under the pearls (also from my own stash).

Well that’s all from me for tonight, I plan to spend the evening surfing the t’internet, having a little drinkie if Baileys then watching Torchwood at 9pm. Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy the rest of your evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,quirky kits.,shabby chic,photography,hand sewing

Catching Up & Colouring In

2011-07-18T18:04:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, sorry for the lack of blog posting over the weekend, but I was in Dublin on a hen weekend & I survived, no injuries, no hangovers, no migraines Woohoo happy bunny! Cocktails were drunk, the dancing was plentiful & so were the giggles. We had a very cool weekend, it was an absolute scream. So I’d better get on with it & catch up….

There was a new challenge on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog on Thursday, this challenge was COLOURING & was sponsored by Robyns Fetish Digi Stamps.

I made a door hanger for my DD using the cute little fairy stamp…

I cut the door hanger shape out of 2 pieces of thick cardboard (like chipboard) & glued them together, then covered them in the pink & yellow star paper from Sarah’s Oz Collection, I used my Martha Stewart Doily Border punch to create the cream lacy border & coloured in the Robyn’s Fetish Fairy with Promarkers. The h is chipboard covered in bright pink Stickles, I inked the edges with Tattered Rose Distress ink & added some small pink gems to the border & 2 darker pink ones to the fairy’s slippers for pom poms.

You can see all the DT creations here. The challenge is open until Sunday 24th July so you still have plenty of time to enter & there are prizes, just link your creation up on the post here.

I’ll be back later in the week & hopefully will have some Dublin photos to share, providing everyone agrees to let me put them on here. Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: Sarah Hurley DT,Sarah Hurley Challenge blog,colouring,promarkers,Oz Collection,door hanger,chipboard

A bit more scrapbooking

2011-07-12T17:07:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, well I’ve dyed my hair again (don’t worry it’s still blonde lol), I’ve bought my fake tan (but haven’t applied it yet) & sorted what clothes I’m taking to Dublin – well almost, however I still haven’t packed & have loads to do before we go on Friday. So this is just going to be a quick post…

I feel a bit like Hyacinth Bucket (It’s BOUQUET!) from Keeping Up Appearances in this photo, so I’ll explain, I was going out for Sunday lunch with my family, but ended up pulling a couple of weeds up from the pumpkin patch – which is why I have gardening gloves on but then Dad asked for the garden fork & as I was walking out of the shed, Mum snapped this photo of me…

A very scrapworthy pic indeed. I used my Quirky Kit from March/April again for this one, plus a few bits from my own stash.

Ok, I’ve gotta dash, thanks so much for stopping by & leaving lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

I’m going to spray myself with fake tan so here’s hoping I don’t look like a new shade of Distress Ink… Streaky Tango lol, maybe someone should suggest that colour to Tim Holtz :D

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Another garden layout

2011-07-10T09:50:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, how are you all? the sun is shining & there’s a slight breeze, so it’s my kind of weather today. I’m still in denial about the fact I’m going on a hen weekend to Dublin next weekend, I haven’t packed (but I do have a packing list :D) I’ve got loads of stuff to do & it’s not getting done, I’m not really a mad night out sort of person so the thought of a non craft related weekend away with the girls kind of fills me with dread, also seeing as I’m a friend of the groom, I kind of feel like I’m being invited out of politeness. But I’ve always wanted to go Dublin so I’m going to make the best of it.

Well I’ve got a layout & a card to share with you today…

The layout was made from my Quirky kit from March/April & again it’s me mucking about in Mum & Dads garden…

The die cut paper is Webster's Pages & yes I did create a template from it for future use, The stickers used for the title came from my May 2010 Scrapagogo Kit (still using up stash :D) I’ve been struggling with my scrapping of late as I’ve allowed myself to become completely absorbed in another big project I’m working on, so later today I’m going to try to put the big project down & get back to what I started & finish some things on my to do list.

The card that I’ve made was for my niece who turned 22 last week – how dare she turn 22, She’s the oldest of the kids in my hubby’s immediate family & I’ve been part of her life since she was 9, I'm struggling to deal with how fast that time has gone, however my niece is thoroughly enjoying calling me Auntie & making me feel old, I always tell her she’s not allowed to call me auntie until I’m in my 40’s, but I like pointing out that she too is getting older & that the older she gets life seems to go faster lol, anyhow enough waffle, here is her card…

To create the back ground I used a Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder with some black Core D’inations with a purple core, then I distressed it a bit more with some fine sandpaper, I used Karin from the Stampotique stamps for the image & some old Rub-ons for the sentiment which I rubbed onto the back of the card I used for the background.

Well that’s all from me for now. Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s much appreciated.

Take care & enjoy the rest of your day.

C xx

Technorati Tags: card,scrapbooking,stampotique,quirky kits.

A Couple of Journal Pages

2011-07-07T17:08:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, how are you doing? It’s lovely & sunny here, although this morning it was raining by the bucket load.

I’ve been playing in my art journal again, I made this first page for a challenge over at The Octopode Factory Challenge blog, the challenge was Alice, I haven’t got any of the Octopode Alice stamps but I’ve got a few of the steampunk ones so I decided to use one of those for an Alice with a twist…

I sprayed the background with Sarah Hurley spray inks. I used an Anna Griffin frame stamp to stamp the frame, then I cut it out, swiped some Wild Honey Distress Ink over it & stuck tin foil to the back of it to create the looking glass, I used the Willow steampunk stamp & came up with the phrase “Alice was feeling slightly wary of the looking glass today” to explain why she has a diving helmet on her head lol

The second page was also made using an Octopode Factory Steampunk stamp – Cinnamon & she always looks to me like she’s an inventor or scientist of some sort…

I got the cog stamps in a Scrapagogo kit a long time ago, but they worked really well with this page. The page itself is to encourage me to do something I’ve been meaning to do for ages & I’m finally getting on with it, although there’s a long way to go yet until it’s ready.

Well that’s all from me for now, thanks for taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy your evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: sarah hurley,the octopode factory,art journaling,steampunk octopodes,alice in wonderland,stamping,doodling,spray inks

One Girl Went to Mow…

2011-07-05T16:26:00.001+01:00

…Went to mow a meadow, do you remember that song? My mum used to sing it to me … 3 men, 2 men 1 man & his dog went to mow a meadow. Not the usual in terms of bedtime songs but I liked it because it was silly & got faster the more men you had going to mow a meadow.

This song has stayed with over the years & I find myself humming it whenever I’m mowing he lawn at Mum & Dads house. It was also the perfect title for this layout I made…

There’s no story behind the photo, just me mucking about on my ride on lawn mower – there’s no way I’m pushing a Flymo round their garden, its huge! Although I was dressed for the British Summer – shorts, vest sun hat & wellies.

I used my Quirky kit from March/April for most of the layout & the frame is a Chatterbox one.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’ll be back later in the week with more bits & bobs. Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care & hope to see you soon

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,lawn mowers,quirky kits.

Month In Numbers - June

2011-07-03T11:29:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, just how fab is this July weather? we have the paddling pool out & I’m actually wearing shorts!! Let’s hope it continues.

Well it’s time for my Month In Numbers post, Julie (the creator of Month in Numbers) posted hers on Friday – make sure you check it out here & I’m sure she won’t mind that I’m a little late. (Because she’s so lovely)

So the significant numbers in my life last month were:

6: The number of bruises JP had after falling downstairs on Gaz’s stag weekend in Benidorm (6 bruises is rather fortunate seeing how he fell down 2 flights of concrete stairs head first)

9: The number of lists I’m working from this month.

17: The number of cakes eaten.

11: The number of pumpkins I planted out in the vegetable patch

11.30: The time I have been going to bed most nights.

41: the number of cakes I made for the school summer fair (feeling oh so virtuous)

£3.99: The price I paid for a small paddling pool.

So those were my numbers for June, don’t forget to pop by Julies’ blog & check out her numbers.

That’s all from me for now, thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy this lovely sunny Sunday & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: my month in numbers,julie kirk,notes on paper,scrapbooking,june

Circle Frenzy Challenge

2011-07-01T09:22:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, It’s Friday & I have a long weekend as I’m off today & Monday, so here I am, sat in the conservatory, with a nice cup of tea, & the only sound I can hear is me tap tapping away on the laptop, no noisy child or kids tv programmes, no hubby asking me where this, that & the other is…. bliss!

There’s a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog & this weeks challenge is Circle Frenzy – to use circles on a creation, cards, ATC’s, scrapbook layouts, altered items, anything goes as long as it has circles on it somewhere.

I decided to make a circular layout using my trusty bag of templates & a lid from a big tin of chocolates (the ones you get at Christmas)…

The scalloped circle was cut using a template I had made from a piece of die cut paper, I used the Pink Polka Dot paper from Sarah’s latest CD …Oz. The paper is A4 size but I was making a 12x12 layout, so I printed 2 sheets of the paper, matched up the pattern & used sticky tape to hold the 2 pieces whilst I drew my circle on the back (using the lid from the chocolate tin) The join between the 2 sheets of paper is hidden under the giant ric rac ribbon. I hand stitched a circular border using back stitch & used the last of the pink flower buttons I own (finally!!) The title & journaling has been attached to the page using 3d foam pads & the journaling reads… A very large chocolate & vanilla ice cream all to yourself. The title summarises my DD’s thoughts on the subject :D

So hop on over to Sarah’s & see what the rest of the team made here. To enter create something using circles & link it up here, you have until Sunday 10th July to enter & there are prizes.

Well that’s all for me for now, I’m going to go & enjoy my day off (I may try & locate some cake later on :D). Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated, take care, spread the Friday Feeling where ever you may be & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: sarah hurley,scrapbooking,sarah hurley challenge blog,Oz,DT

Moving Day

2011-06-27T16:34:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, how are you?

Please forgive my lack of blog post yesterday, I went to my local(ish) craft shop & indulged in a bit of shopping, saw Nikky from Polka Doodles, then came home, crashed out in my pj’s & crocheted the day away, I felt like being lazy, so I was (although I did change the sheets on all the beds, conquered the ironing pile & cleaned the bathroom all before 9am so my work for the day was done lol)

I’ve got a layout to share today which was created on a Vintage & Distressing theme for the IACW Weekend Workout & here it is….

I used the Echo Park Noteworthy journal spot sheet to create the main elements on this page, everything has been inked with Distress Inks. I used a Basic Grey rub on in the top right corner. The little girl in the photo is… me , aged 3 & there is a bit of a story behind this photo which i have told in the journaling: 1983, I had chicken pox, Dad was working abroad & we were moving from Park Road to Hawes Side Lane. One slight problem… the removal truck didn’t turn up, leaving mum with no way of moving our furniture. Thankfully the removals firm who were moving the new people in kindly offered to move our furniture to the new house.

I think the lesson there is don’t rely on your mate who works for a removal firm, my dad was fuming when he got back home & found out that mum had had to struggle to get everything sorted, & back in the 1980’s it wasn’t easy to get a phone connection to the Middle East where my dad worked, so she couldn’t just ring him for help.

On a side note, the bear in the photo is called Snowy, I’ve had him since I was a baby & he still sits on my bed, in fact I’m not ashamed to admit… I can’t sleep without him.

Well that’s all from me for today, thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy your evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: IACW.,distressing,vintage,1980s'

I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore…

2011-06-23T13:44:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey,

I’m really excited about sharing this piece of work with you today as it’s the piece that kicked my mojo back into shape & I absolutely love the finished item.

I’m on the Sarah Hurley DT & I get some fabby things to play with, one of these is her latest release … Oz (as in The Wizard of Oz). The Oz cd is brilliant, it has all the characters, patterned papers & embellishments in abundance & can be used either digitally or printed out & used physically – which is what I do as I’ve never been able to do digi. You can get a copy of the cd here, I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

My DD loves Sarah’s designs too & whenever I’m printing things off, she’ll sit next to me telling me which ones she’d like, so I decided for my first Oz project to make something for DD’s room, but DD didn’t know the Oz story (she’s only 5) so at the weekend Hubs picked up the DVD for us & she was watching that whilst I made this….

It’s a huge Oz canvas to hang on her wall. The canvas is 18 x 24 inches, & was only £2.99 in The Works (I get all my canvases from there, they’re great for altering & relatively inexpensive) First I printed off the pieces I wanted to use & then played around laying them out on the canvas to decide where to put everything, then I painted in the grass & sky, I used the pre-coloured images for this project but there are black & white ones on the cd for you to colour in yourself. The yellow brick road was created using 2 pieces of the yellow brick road patterned paper, I just drew wavy lines for the road on the back & matched them up, I made the path thinner at one end to try to make it look like it was in the distance, I also printed a small Wicked Witch of the West, wizard & Emerald City Castle to make them look far away too (or I could just said…to add some perspective lol) The witch is hiding in the trees from the Woodland Whimsies cd (which you can get from her shop). Glinda the Good Witch of the North has had her dress coated in pale pink Stickles & the Emerald City Castle turret tops have had a coat of glittery green Stickles.

The title was stamped onto the yellow brick road paper left over from the road using Pharmacy Banana Frog stamps & Ranger Coffee Archival ink. The sun is made from the same paper. I also used loads of Distress Inks… , Peeled Paint, Black Soot, Mild Honey, Brushed Corduroy & Pumice Stone.

I really do love this & DD has now asked for an Alice in Wonderland one too (using Sarah’s Alice cd) so it is on my to do list (can’t wait to start it).

Don’t forget that you still have time to enter the Handmade Flower Challenge on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog .

Well that’s all from me for today, wow, that was a long post :D Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, have a lovely evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: sarah hurley,alice in wonderland,wizard of oz,oz,canvas,paint,woodland whimsies,sarah hurley challenge blog,dt

A couple of cards

2011-06-21T17:01:00.001+01:00

Hiya, how are you all doing?, Me? I’m back on form, thanks for asking, all is still not quite brilliant but it’s one heck of a lot better than it was & my mojo has returned too, so all in all I’m much happier, I’d just like to say thank you to all of you who offered kind words of support & advice & just kind words in general.

It’s just a quickie post from me today, I made these cards last month when a couple of girls I work with were leaving, as the girls worked together I needed to make the cards the same as I didn’t want them to think I liked one of them more than the other :D

The patterned paper & sentiments are from Sarah Hurley’s range, they can be used for digi creations or printed out (meaning you never run out of patterned paper – always a plus) I used my Sizzix & Quickutz Nesting Scalloped Square dies to cut the squares & the cupcakes stamps are Molly Blooms & were free in the first issue of Simply Homemade.

Well that’s all from me for now (I said it was a quickie) I’ll be back later in the week with a project I can’t wait to share.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy your evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: cardmaking,sarah hurley,sizzix,quickutz

Handmade Flowers Challenge

2011-06-19T08:57:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, It’s rainy, windy & Sunday, so that sounds like a crafting in my PJ’s day today. There’s a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog this week, the challenge is set by Ria & is to make handmade flowers.

Here’s what I made …

I used Sarah’s Sunshine Yellow Spray ink to create the background & all of the patterned papers are Sarah’s designs too.

The flower was made by using 2 scalloped circle punches, I punched 2 different sized circles & then snipped into the edges with scissors, I found a brad with slots to thread ribbon through, so tied some ribbon in & popped the brad through the centre of the 2 flowers.

You can see what the design team made here, you have until next Sunday (26th June) to enter your creations by linking up on Sarah’s Challenge Blog.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, have a lovely Sunday & hope to see you soon.

Cxx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,sarah hurley challenge Blog,sarah hurley,handmade flowers

A bit of knitting

2011-06-16T13:38:00.001+01:00

Hi hi hi, how are you, well the rain has finally stopped here (for today anyway). I’d just like to say thank you to all of those of you who left lovely & supportive comments on my post earlier this week, I’m still feeling sad & blue but feel happier knowing I’m not the only one & that there are people out there who understand.

I’ve been doing a bit of knitting but for some reason haven’t got around to sharing the pictures yet, so here we go…

This is a little shrug that I finished knitting in March…

I used Rowan Big Wool to knit this & yes I did need to take out a second mortgage to but the stuff… £8 a ball, sheesh! but it was worth it as its so snuggly warm, the original pattern didn’t have sleeves so I modified it slightly & added some little cap sleeves. I got the pattern from Ravelry.

This next jumper I love, I had to spend a few weeks working at a different office & there was a wool shop on the same block as the office so it would have been rude not to pop in & browse (& buy the odd thing or two)…

The pattern was by King Cole & the wool was also King Cole, it was the Riot range in Domino colourway. Again I modified the pattern slightly, with King Cole you get 2 jumpers on one pattern, the long jumper had a really high neck which don’t suit me at all but the shorter jumper had a V neck which I much prefer, so when it got to knitting the front neckline I just switched to the pattern for the shorter jumper.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’ll be back over the weekend with more things to share (if I ever get my mojo back).

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy the sun whilst it lasts & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: knitting,king cole,riot,ravelry,rowan,big wool

Art Journaling with the Octopodes

2011-06-14T16:52:00.001+01:00

Hiya, how you all doing? Me, well I’m not so sure, I’m feeling a bit sad, down & miffed, I’m not really sure why, I’ve felt like this for a week or so now & can’t put my finger on the cause, I feel like I’m swimming against the tide in my home, work & crafty lives, I have lots of things to do & nothing is getting done, & even when I do manage to get stuff done, I get the feeling I’m doing it all wrong, what’s worse is that chocolate isn’t making it better, normally my dark nights of the soul can be cured by a bar of Galaxy or Dairy Milk, but this time nothing is shifting it. Hubs doesn’t understand, DD is far too young to have my problems dumped on her & Mum’s busy with her own stuff, so I’m feeling thoroughly alone here.

All of this is where these 2 art journal pages came from and this first one is very appropriate for how I feel today…

I used Dylusions Ink sprays in sky blue, cyan & lime to create the background & then had a doodle-fest creating the border, the image is Willow from The Octopode Factory, she’s really cute & she obviously feels the same way I do, she’s also coloured in with Promarkers, I stamped the journaling onto graph paper, inked the edges & glued it down.

This next page is what I need to do, but it’s taking some effort to get back to where I want & need to be …

The background was created using Scattered Straw & Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks, then I used a Kaisercraft Grid stamp with Coffee Archival Ink to create the grid pattern, the image is another of The Octopode Factory Steampunk Characters I coloured her in with Promarkers, I think I’m getting the hang of them now. I used a Banana Frog stamp with some red Staz-On to stamp the starts & used Banana Frog Pharmacy Stamps for the words, I drew the border & coloured it in with a red Neo Colours wax water colour crayon – these really are fab crayons, its like kiddie colouring for grown ups.

Well that’s all for me for now, thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments it’s always much appreciated & big thanks for listening to me have a moan, I feel a little better for getting some of it off my chest.

Take care, enjoy your evening & hope to see you soon.

Cxx

Technorati Tags: the octopode factory,art journaling,promarkers,distress ink,kaisercraft,neo colours,banana frog

A lazy Sunday

2011-06-12T12:58:00.001+01:00

Hi, hi, hi, Well it’s raining here again & I’ve had to turn the heating back on as it’s so cold, I had a really busy long day yesterday, I went to the crop with one of my friends then 2 other friends joined us at mine for tea & a girly night of crafting, I didn’t get anything I wanted to do done, but that’s usually the way when friends & cake are involved. I plan to make up for it today though as when I’ve finished writing this post & visiting all the blogs I like to hop around I’m going to have a bath put on my pj’s & spread craft stuff out all over the lounge floor & craft until the small hours of the morning, I’m not working tomorrow so I can stay up late & hubs is still in Benidorm on a stag do, so I can make a mess in the lounge & watch vampire movies to my hearts content.

I’ve got another layout to share today again using some Echo Park papers. I know I scrap about my mum a lot but I have very few photos of her (mainly because I can never get a photo of her with her eyes open – she blinks at the wrong moment every time), but I have no siblings, so not only is she my mum, but she’s like a big sister & best friend all rolled into one, I’d honestly be lost without her.

This photo is from 10 years ago, we were going to a friends wedding & this is one of the photo’s that really shows just how alike Mum & I are, we had very similar outfits, bags & shoes, we hadn’t even discussed what we were going to wear.

The journaling reads: Mum & I are very similar, our appearance,our wardrobes & our crafty natures, even our forgetful memories. We’re also incredibly close, she’s my best friend.

I’ve mounted the photo on 3d foam pads to make it stand out above the layers of patterned papers & the word documented is also attached with 3dfoam pads. I used white Thickers but painted them with black spray ink from Sarah Hurley & then coated them in black stickles to make them glittery.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’m off to run a really hot bubble bath. Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated. Take care, have a lovely Sunday afternoon & hope to see you soon.

Cxx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,sarah hurley,mum,thickers

Dog days

2011-06-09T20:00:00.001+01:00

Hi there, how are you? It’s so nearly Friday I can almost smell the weekend, I have lots of plans this weekend, including an evening with the girls watching vampire movies & eating cakes, I can’t wait.

Anyhow, crafting has been slow this week, my get up & go got up & wandered off so I picked up a book, which I have struggled to put down ever since meaning that no crafting has been done, I’ve also several work & domesticated life things on my plate this week, nothing serious, major or worrying but time consuming all the same, luckily for me I had a marathon crafting session the other week so still have plenty to share with you.

This layout is all about the furry boy in my life, my lovely big soft labrador Asha or Ashington Peas as my 5 year old DD refers to him….

The title Excuse me, can I have your attention please, sums up what he is doing in the photo, sitting, on his best behaviour, giving me the cutest puppy face he can manage, all to try & convince me to go & get him a treat out of the cupboard. All of the papers are Echo Park, I used my Sizzix to cut the pawprint.

Well I’m going to have to go now as house stuff is catching up with me & if I don’t get on with it I’ll soon be engulfed in it.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,echo park,asha,sizzix

One day in Wonderland

2011-06-07T17:27:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, well this weather just can’t make it’s mind up can it, it was cold windy & rainy, then the sun came out & it was hot, then it hammered down with rain & then the sun came out to play…all of this in one day, we tend to get 4 seasons in one day quite often here, I’ve given up trying to figure out which coat to wear when I leave the house :D

I’ve got another layout to share to you today, as soon as I knew we were going to where we went I got all excited as I knew I had just the stash to create the layouts & mini book that usually result from a family day out.

We went to Tatton Park over Easter as they were having an Alice in Wonderland Weekend, with all the characters & lots to do, it was a fantastic day out, so even though I’m going to make a mini book I wanted to create a layout with the main characters all together on one page…

The pictures are all mounted on 3d foam pads, as are the tickets, title & journaling to make them all stand out, we didn’t fall down a rabbit hole but we did see Alice & the White Rabbit, we met the Queen & walked away with our heads still attached to our bodies & we found all the pocket watches to get to the Mad Hatters Tea Party, why oh why did I not get my photo taken with the cute Mad Hatter? All of the papers & tickets are from the Sarah Hurley Wonderland CD – a must for all Alice fans.

Well that’s all from me for now. Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy your evening & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: scrapbooking,sarah hurley,alice in wonderland,tatton park,DT

Addicted to Vintage

2011-06-05T09:19:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, happy Sunday morning to you. I was looking forward to doing some crafting today then I looked at the calendar & realised I have to take DD to a party this afternoon so I have to swap 2 crafty hours for 2 hours of hyper active children, loud music & possibly parental participation – which means I may have to dance the okey-kokey – several times – oh joy!

However what does not kill us makes us stronger :D

I’ve been working on the Addicted Series again, in case you haven’t seen the Addicted Series its a way of recording the things I cannot live without, so far it’s covered knitting, vampire novels, notebooks & journals & I have many more pages lined up, this one is about my love of vintage clothing & accessories….

I also created this for last weeks Weekend Workout on IACW I just never got around to sharing it, the challenge was to use a sketch provided by Dolly.

I drew the frame onto Kraft cardstock & cut it out then attached it with 3d foam pads. The journaling reads: The shoes, the bag, the hat & the jacket, my most loved vintage items, I dream of having a wardrobe full to the brim with vintage clothes. I used some Hero Arts tiny stamps & Tim Holtz stamps to create the title & the word vintage is also attached with 3d foam pads, the flair buttons are American Crafts wedding flairs but the colours matched perfectly – giving myself bonus points here for using themed stash in a non themed way :D & I tied a bit of pink ribbon through each side of the layout, just to make it prettier.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’ll be back later in the week with some more things to share.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy your Sunday, & hope to see you soon.

Cxx

Technorati Tags: weekend workout,scrapbooking,addicted Series,vintage,iacw.

Weekend Workout

2011-06-03T15:48:00.001+01:00

Woooohooooooo It’s Friday ***happy dance***

As it’s the weekend it’s time for another Weekend Workout from IACW.

This week the lovely Eleanor is setting the challenge which is …

Embossing

heat embossing, dry embossing, if it’s embossed, it’s in :D

I have to admit my embossing project didn’t quite turn out as planned, I had started to work on something for this challenge & was also working on something for the Stampotique Designers Challenge, which was to use acetate & only Stampotique stamps, now somewhere along the way, the papers & projects got muddled & intertwined, but I quite like the result & here it is…

I’ve used the Stampotique Karin stamp & coloured her with Promarkers, I’ve embossed the pink cardstock by using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder & scalloped the edges of it with a Threading Water punch. The hounds tooth pattern is printed onto acetate & held in place by some sneaky blobs of glue under the gems in each corner & under the scalloped border. The call me sticker if from October Afternoon. I’ve come up with 2 uses for this card, one could be a cheeky little flirt with someone who has caught your eye, the other – just reminding a friend that a catch up over a cup of tea & a slice of cake is required (not necessarily stopping at one slice of cake :D)

You can check out the other creations from the IACW girls here, Eleanor’s is very tasty ;o)

Well that’s all from me for now, I’ll be back with more to share over the weekend, thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, see you soon & enjoy your evening.

C xx

Technorati Tags: stampotique,stampotique designers challenge,its a creative world,weekend workout,card making,embossing,acetate

A New Challenge

2011-06-02T15:20:00.001+01:00

Hello everybody, it’s a lovely day here & I hope it is where you are too :D

There’s a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog, the challenge is….

Summer

We were using a digi kit very kindly given to us by one of our sponsors, GallimaufryUK, the kit is called “Bloomin Lovely” and it really is.

Here’s what I made with the kit…

I printed out the elements to create a hybrid layout, this kit contained 2 of my favourite things, frames & hearts, I was in heaven :D I’ve inked the edges of the frames & attached them with 3d foam pads to make the page more chunky, some of the hearts are glued to the page & others have been attached with foam pads for a bit more dimension, I then doodled a border with a black fine liner pen, the Thickers for the title were stuck to pink cardstock then attached to the page using….can you guess? yep 3d foam pads, I get through so many of these that the girls in my local stationary shop know me quite well now.

Check out the brilliant creations from the rest of the team here. And don’t forget… there are prizes :D The competition runs until 12th of June so you’ve got plenty of time to enter :D

Well that’s all for me for now I’ll be back tomorrow with a Weekend Workout post.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated, take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Technorati Tags: sarah hurley,gallimaufryuk,scrapbooking,challenge,dt

Month in Numbers

2011-05-31T16:42:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, I’m a bit late with my Month in Numbers page today (Sorry Julie), I was going to post it his morning but my dog decided that he wanted to play all last night & he wouldn’t go to sleep, he kept coming upstairs & waking me up, yet when I went to let him out, he just sat wagging his tail at me, the result is I’ve been grumpier than Grumpy the Dwarf today as 3 hours sleep is not enough to keep me going & I couldn’t get out of bed early enough to sort my post out & get to work on time, but, you know what they say …. better late than never.

So without further ado here is my Month in Numbers page…

The significant numbers in my life this month were

3.30 – The number of hours it took to plant all of the vegetables in the vegetable patch now that we have a rotivator. It used to take about 5 hours to dig all the vegetable patches over & then we had to plant, now it only takes about 15 minutes to dig all of the patches over.

2 – Vintage metal boxes rescued from my Dad’s workshop, one of them is an old Boots First aid tin from the 60’s & the other one is a 1950’s tool box, I have big plans for those boxes.

47 – pounds won on Lottery scratch cards, I only buy one a week & £40 was my biggest win ever, the £7 were little £1 & £2 wins, but I save them all up instead of just putting them in my purse.

6 – the number of cakes eaten at work this month – It’s been a slow month, what can I say?

3 – The number of books I’ve read this month & yes, they were all vampire & witch related, I can’t help it, it’s a genre I’ve loved since I was a little girl, my friends were playing princesses & I always wanted to be the wicked witch.

4-2 - The score at the Manchester United V Blackpool FC game, we lost & got relegated from the Premiership. I don’t really follow the football but my home team have a special place in my heart, the underdog team from a small northern town – Holloway’s Tangerine Army!!!!!

10 – The number of pumpkins I currently have growing, maybe this year will be the year I manage to grow one that weighs 50lbs, my dream is to grow one so big that the army have to come in to weigh it :D

21 – Adele’s album, the most listened to CD in my house this month.

Make sure you go to Julie Kirk’s blog (the inventor of Month in Numbers) to check out her Month in Numbers post. I promise you’ll love it.

Well that’s all from me for now, I’m going to have a bath, put on my PJ’s & try & find some reasonably (read cheap) priced furniture for the revamping of my craft space.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

A Sunny Altered Canvas

2011-05-30T11:32:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, Happy Bank Holiday Monday to you wherever you may be, I hope the weather is nicer where you are than it is here today, we have the traditional seaside Bank Holiday rain going on here.

I’ve got a little canvas to share with you that will hopefully bring you some sunshine on a rainy day. It started its life, all sad & dusty on the bottom shelf at my local stationery store, so I felt I had to rescue it, it’s only an 8x8 but I have a feeling that there will be bigger canvases on the horizon as I really enjoyed making this one. The first thing I did was to cover it in strips of old book pages…

Then I painted a blue & green background, blue for the sky, green for the grass…

I cut a sun out of book pages, painted it yellow, stamped over it with a Kaisercraft grid stamp & doodled around it, then I stuck it on in the corner…

Now for the fun bit… creating the scene, I used the Stampotique Picket Fence Stamp & the Sarah Hurley Woodland Whimsies Stamp set for the clouds, none of this is stuck down yet, I was just playing with the positioning…

It needed more so I used the Stampotique Tree Stamp, Posy from the Octopode Factory – isn’t she cute, I love these little steampunk characters & the bunting in the tree was made with a stamp that was a freebie with the first issue of Simply Homemade Magazine.

When I was happy with the layout I stuck everything down & voila….

The little owl is from the Sarah Hurley Woodland Whimsies stamp set & both he & Posy were coloured in with Promarkers. The title Explore, Dream, Discover was borrowed from a quote by Mark Twain.

I had tons of fun making this & am now trying to find a space for it on a wall somewhere in my craft space, I’m tempted to make ones for the full set of the Octopode Factory steampunk stamps, but I don’t think I have the wall space to display them all.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, its always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy the Bank Holiday & hope to see you soon.

C xx

Wendy Houses….

2011-05-28T11:47:00.001+01:00

No, not the plastic ones we used to play in when we were kids, these are Wendy Vecchi style houses. They started life as a chipboard mini book that I bought in 2008 but never did anything with. I’d seen the houses on the front of Wendy’s blog & had wanted to re-create them but just never got round to it so this weeks challenge on Simon Says Stamp & Show gave me the kick in the mojo I needed to get them altered…

First I removed the rings that bound them together & put them to one side as they are the sort of thing that will come in useful on another project, then I covered them old book pages & inked them with various Distress inks & Sarah Hurley spray ink…

Then I got carried away with the altering & forgot to take stage by stage photos, The chimneys, & roof tops were covered in Kraft & black cardstock, I ran some through the Sizzix to emboss them, then I added some windows doors & other embellishments – most of which have been inked, a lot & they ended up looking like this…

Due to the size of them that photo isn’t the best but I wanted you see them all together, however I have taken some close up shots too…

As you can see, when all together they say: Home is where the art is.

The chipboard letters I used for the word “art” where plain white ones that I inked with Coffee Archival Ink & they came out unintentionally, but fabulously distressed.

So this is my entry into the Simon Says Stamp & Show competition for this week – to show some Wendy Vecchi style. I have to say that considering I don’t own any Wendy Vecchi supplies (I know, shocking isn’t it lol) that I haven’t done a bad job on recreating her style, even if I do say so myself :D

Well that’s all from me for today, I’ve got lots of crafty stuff to make & a steampunk style project I want to make a start on too.

Thanks for stopping by & taking the time to leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated.

Take care, enjoy your weekend & hope to see you soon.

Cxx

A Little Bit Strange

2011-05-26T13:36:00.001+01:00

Hey, hey, hey, well the sun is shining (admittedly it’s interspersed with heavy rain showers) & the wind is blowing gale here by the seaside today but I’m not going to let that spoil my creative plans for the afternoon - mainly because my creative plans don’t involve going outside.

I’ve got a layout to share with you today & as you my have guessed from the title of my post, the layout is about me. I’m quite ok with the fact that those who know me think I’m a bit weird, after all I’m a grown up who loves playing with paper & glue (which some people will never understand) I talk to myself – a lot, I put this down to being an only child, I also spend a large amount of time writing things down, but hey, I’m forgetful, it happens. But my true, real friends understand, they love my quirkiness & accept that sometimes I can be eccentric & seem a little bit mad, but they accept that, they overlook the insane & focus on the good stuff & for that I love them dearly & they are worth their weight in gold (or patterned paper lol) This is what this layout is about…

I wrote the journaling directly onto the photograph & it reads:

I talk to myself all of the time. I write lists about anything & everything. I have to check that I’ve locked the doors several times. My clothes never co-ordinate. Some people think I’m weird & random, but my friends accept me for who I am even if I am …. a little bit strange.

This is a layout that I feel is also very true to my style as a crafter, I’ve scalloped the edges & doodled my favourite style of border as well as doodled some stitching, I’ve used foam pads in abundance again too on the paper & journaling strips on the right side of the photograph & on the stickers of part of the title & even better, I was able to use Thickers that match the hat I’m wearing in the photograph, what more could a girl ask for? I may not be able to match my clothes but my stash & wardrobe co-ordinate perfectly well :D

It’s my turn to post on IACW today, I’ve made a couple more speedy cards using some Sarah Hurley stash & a stamp which was a magazine freebie. I’d love it if you stop by to say hi :0)

And don’t forget you still have a few more days to enter my Frames challenge on the Sarah Hurley Challenge blog. The challenge runs until Sunday & winners will be announced on 1st June, there are prizes too, so be sure to check it out.

Well that’s all from me for today, thank you for taking the time to stop by & leave lovely comments, it’s always much appreciated & I’m always astounded by the positive comments I receive from you all, it really does make my day.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

C xx

The Crafty Alchemist

The last of the pumpkins (really this time)

Everyday Stories – Tea & Cake

Love Letters….

Sunday Afternoons

Love is all around challenge…

Month In Numbers – January 2012

Everyday Stories – I’m a big kid

Re-introducing… The Addicted Series

The Last of the Pumpkins

All About Me Challenge

Everyday Stories – Family Photo

A Wedding Page & Origami Frogs

A layout from Christmas Past

Everyday Stories – The Pyjama People

Seasonal fun – More pumpkins

Giving Thanks Challenge

Month in Numbers December 2011

Woah! Where did last week go? {& a challenge}

The Christmas Tree & a Little Bit of Love

A Christmas Challenge {sponsored by Letraset}

Month In Numbers – November

Happy Anniversary…

Sunday Scrapbooking & Cake Logic.

Second Ripple Blanket – Done!

The Yarn Gang

Summer Scrapping on a Winters Day

Buttons, Buttons, Brilliant Buttons

Tea & Writing off the Weekend

More Tinseltown Creations

Vintage Style Ripple Blanket – Done!

A New Challenge

Tinseltown ***New Release***

Month in Numbers {double edition} & pumpkins

Misting Challenge

One thing leads to another

Works in progress

Sunshine & Pumpkins

Summer Scrapbooking & Cable Jumper

Halloween Horrors

More Spookiness

A Vintage Challenge

BOO!!!!

Shades of Summer Dress

Waiting patiently….

A Good (Slightly Cracked) Egg

Anyone for tea?

A New Challenge - Recycle

It’s a bloke thing…

A Canvas & A Question

Month in Numbers – August

Happy Bank Holiday!!

The Ripple Blanket

A Quirky Layout

The Alchemist is back in action….

New Desk Update & a DT Call

Back in Blog Land

July Month In Numbers …

A New Challenge – Punch It

Summer Holiday Scrapping

Getting back into a groove…

Catching Up & Colouring In

A bit more scrapbooking

Another garden layout

A Couple of Journal Pages

One Girl Went to Mow…

Month In Numbers - June

Circle Frenzy Challenge

Moving Day

I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore…

A couple of cards

Handmade Flowers Challenge

A bit of knitting

Art Journaling with the Octopodes

A lazy Sunday

Dog days

One day in Wonderland

Addicted to Vintage

Weekend Workout

A New Challenge

Tinseltown New Release